Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth
by NexusofPain
Summary: (AU) Naruto looked down at the palm of his hand, unsure what it was that the fox truly wanted him to do, but one thing was for sure, he would do it, as long as it meant that someday he could save the life of his first and only friend. OC, Maybe semi-dark Naruto later.
1. Migraines

Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 1

Migraine

BY NEXUSOFPAIN

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

Smoke.

The smoke was everywhere.

It choked him, his lungs burning in his chest, looking around as best he could, his neck stiff, the bones cracking with every little movement. All around him the bodies were piled up while none where immediately recognizable, somewhere in the pit of his stomach he knew that his precious people were also in those decaying piles.

Standing slowly he made his way around the war torn battlefield, the bodies of strangers and friends alike scattered at his feet. Craters from the many powerful jutsu that had been cast dotting the landscape. His memory was hazy, he was unable to remember what had happened why he was here, even his own name was currently beyond his grasp.

The one thing that he could think of was moving forward, sure that just ahead were the answers to his questions, of who he was and what was going on. He stopped as a boy with short brown hair caught his eye a kunai sticking out from the side of his neck, he was laying on top of a large white dog easily the same size as the dead man laying on top of him. Tears pricked the corners of his eyes though he was unsure why.

He continued along the trail of corpses. People that he recognized but could not remember all around him. Eventually he caught sight of a figure in the distance, a man in a mask and cloak. Laughing among the corpses, as he got closer the figures body started to shrink until he was just barely the size of a child, all the corpses had burst into flame filling the air with more smoke as well as the smell of burning flesh.

"Who are you?" He felt the words leave his mouth but couldn't be certain they were his.

The laughing child stopped at the question, reaching up to remove his mask. Pulling it slowly from his face the boys blonde locks became visible then his cerulean blue eyes, slit like that of a feral beast, and finally the three whisker marks on each side of his face. He wore a large grin clashing with the hell fire and brimstone type background.

"I'm you." The answer sent a shiver down his spine, his stomach wrenched as he took a step back unable to believe his eyes.

"Who did this!?" He asked starting to panic afraid of the answer.

"Don't you remember... you did." He took another step back a strange sensation engulfing his hands, covered in what felt like a warm sticky liquid, looking down he was shocked to find them covered in a deep red liquid, clenching his stomach again he fell to his knees emptying it's contents onto the cold blood-soaked ground.

Naruto awoke covered in a cold sweat, the nightmare still vividly fresh in his mind, for awhile he just stayed in his bed surrounded by the blank white walls of his small bedroom, looking to the side he examined the small clock on his nightstand,

"four o clock" He sighed rolling over onto his side pulling his old ratty blanket over his head, hoping against hope that the sweet bliss of sleep would consume him once again.

After another thirty minutes he gave up on this his young mind racing to fast to rest any longer, trying his best to make sense of the strange dream. He had been having the same nightmare for a little over a week. At one point he had debated going to the old man Hokage, however he banished that thought just as quickly, he'd only just started the academy last month and he didn't want the old man thinking that he didn't have what it took to be the greatest ninja ever. After all what kind of master ninja started having nightmares about war and death so soon after starting, he hadn't even gotten to fight anybody yet.

Sighing again he forced his small body out of his old bed. Rubbing the little bit of sleep from his eyes he stood up to his full height of three foot two inches. He was the second shortest academy student in his class but he wasn't worried after all he was only seven, and he had more important things to worry about than being short, such as becoming the greatest Hokage in the history of ever.

Navigating his way through the multitude of clothes and garbage that littered the floor of his bedroom. He quickly gathered some of his less worn clothes picking through for a usable outfit for the day, deciding on a mostly clean pair a tan cargo shorts and a black shirt with the hidden leaf symbol adorning the front. Taking his choice he continued navigating his way towards his modest bathroom, that consisted of a shower, sink, and toilet, there was no tub, of course there was no room for one anyway.

Starting up his shower he waited a few minutes to let the temperature get warm enough so that he wouldn't freeze. After ten minutes he started to worry as the water was still as cold as ice, taking an experimental sniff of himself he wrinkled his nose. Deciding to suck it up he quickly jumped underneath the ice cold torrent of water, the last thing he needed was to be the only kid in the academy who didn't shower Kami knew he had enough trouble making friends already.

Trying to take as quick a shower as possible he was in and out in less than five minutes. That of course didn't stop him from shivering from the combination of the cold water and his own lack of a heater. For a moment he found himself wishing that he lived in an old fashion home with a kotatsu instead of a modern apartment.

Still shivering he walked out into his living room/kitchen. Grabbing the kettle on the stove he filled it with water before starting up his gas burner and placing the now full water kettle over the flame. Looking over to the analog clock hanging on the wall in his living room he took note that he still had plenty of time before he had to be at the academy.

Five minutes later a loud whistling noise alerted him to the fact his water was ready. Pulling down a small cup of instant pork ramen he slowly filled it to the inner line. While waiting for his noodles to cook he decided to get the rest of his ninja equipment together starting with his signature goggles placing them gingerly over his head, the fit was perfect allowing him to keep his spiky blonde hair out of his eyes.

He spent the rest of his three minute wait idly busying himself with one of his practice kunai throwing it up into the air and catching it before it would hit the ground. He wasn't worried about accidentally cutting himself on account of them being completely blunt, just barely capable of piercing the straw dummies that academy students used for target practice. Sitting down at his kitchen table, in his sparsely decorated apartment, he took his time eating his usual breakfast of instant ramen.

Of course instant ramen was the only thing he could afford on the meager allowance given to him by the old man's secretary at the beginning of every month. As he started thinking about it he realized that the day of his allowance had already passed, making a mental note to drop by the Hokage's mansion after school. Finishing his breakfast he opened his small frog shaped coin wallet, a mysterious gift he'd received on his birthday the previous year, he was actually surprised to find he still had over 2,000 ryo.

Taking a final look at the clock he left his small broken down apartment ready for another day at the academy, and as such another day closer to becoming a real ninja.

Making sure to lock the door behind him he descended the staircase to the dirt road below, the sun had just began to rise casting a morning shadow over the empty streets before him. The wind blew slightly ruffling his blonde hair, a small chill in the fall air causing a shiver to run down his spine. The trek from his apartment to the academy was not a short one being almost ten miles from his current location.

Dust rising with each step he took along the unpaved road, the side of the village he lived on happened to be the poorer side. Naruto took a deep breath taking in his peaceful surroundings, this early in the morning no-one else was around so he didn't need to worry about the hateful glares the villagers always sent in his direction. While he had never been outright attacked by the hostile villagers, they had never tried to hide their disgust when he would walk by.

Naruto looked longingly at the Ichiraku ramen stand as he walked past it, wishing he had checked to see how much money he had left before eating breakfast. Teuchi the owner of the small stand, sent a smile and a wave Naruto's way, noticing as he passed by, Naruto sending a grin as wide as his face back at the man, him being one of the few people to treat Naruto like he was an actual person, and not just some piece of trash on the side of the street.

By the time Naruto was halfway to the academy the sun had already fully risen into the sky causing the shadows around him to grow longer. As he continued to walk Naruto started to see some of the familiar faces from his own class. One in particular catching his eye, Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto mustered the best glare he could to send at the boy, who paid no attention what-so-ever not even seeming to notice the blonde boy staring daggers at him, once again the dark haired boy was accompanied by his older brother.

Naruto wasn't sure what the older boy's name was but he would walk Sasuke to school two or three times a week. Naruto couldn't help the small hint of jealousy in the back of his mind as he watched the two, every once in a while the older brother would say something that would cause Sasuke to laugh, an honest smile across his face, of course that wasn't the only thing that Naruto didn't like about his classmate, even though they had only been in the academy for barely a month, Sasuke had already aced every test they had been given, showing himself to be well above all the other students from the very beginning.

Naruto grit his teeth anger welling up as he thought about the boy, the one who had everything he didn't skill, family, and friends. A month and nobody had even spoken with Naruto, in fact they seemed to actively ignore his presence even the sensei wouldn't look at him most days. In opposition to that everyone was nice to Sasuke talking about how much of a prodigy he was already, the whole class practically lining up to be his friend.

Following slowly behind Sasuke and his brother, it wasn't much longer before Naruto reached the academy. A large crowd of students had already gathered outside the large three story building, kids of all ages hanging out in the courtyard talking amongst themselves. Naruto watched as Sasuke's brother bid him farewell and turned to leave, catching Naruto's gaze in the process. The older boy sent Naruto a small smile and a half-hearted wave when he noticed Naruto watching him and his brother, it took Naruto by surprise when he couldn't see any of the hatred the other villagers looked at him with reflected in the older boy's black eyes.

Hearing the bell ring in the distance the young blonde boy hurriedly followed his classmates into the large academy building. Walking through the not quite familiar halls of the academy Naruto quickly found his way to his classroom, picking a seat in the back by himself he sat quietly waiting for his sensei to start class. Normally he would have announced his grand entrance as he entered the room, but today he didn't feel like himself, a sudden sharp pain in the back of his mind, warning him of the approaching migraine.

"Okay class, today we're going to learn the basics of chakra, what it is and how we use it to our advantage as ninja." The brown haired sensei said as he walked through the classroom door, closing it tightly behind him.

The whole class broke out in animated chatter at this, most fantasizing about all the amazing jutsu they were going to learn. This ended rather quickly however when the sensei started passing out textbooks to everybody. Naruto looked at the large book reading the title to himself aloud. "Understanding Chakra Basics." he sighed letting his head bang down onto the desk in front of him, along with the other students in class he had assumed they were going to be doing practical application.

Naruto tuned out most of the lesson, same as he did most days. He knew that somehow all this book learning was important, but like most kids his age he just couldn't see it. Eventually boredom got the better of him and he pulled out a pencil, doodling on the notebook paper he was supposed to be taking notes on. It was a detailed picture of a chibi Naruto beating a chibi Sasuke with a wooden practice sword, ending with chibi Sasuke on the ground begging chibi Naruto to train him, Naruto chuckled quietly to himself.

"What's so funny Naruto?" Apparently not quietly enough, Naruto quickly hid his drawing underneath his arms, smiling up at his sensei who happened to be standing right over top of him.

"Oh.. uh.. nothing Iruka-sensei, uh... just amazed at how awesome your lessons are." He lied through his teeth, trying his best to keep up his convincing smile.

"Really, well then since my lessons are so 'awesome' you should easily be able to tell me who it was that taught the first ninja how to use chakra." Iruka-sensei's own smile told Naruto that he knew he hadn't been paying attention.

Naruto looked around desperately at his classmates all of which turned to avoid his gaze. Another sudden pain in the back of his head made him hiss in pain. 'how troublesome its obviously the Rikudo Sennin' Naruto looked around for the source of the voice, his gaze landing on the boy sitting one row under him a boy with black hair in a pony-tail. Naruto was surprised that Iruka-sensei hadn't heard the boy but not about to complain.

"Um.. the Rikudo Sennin?" his voice was unsure, but the look on Iruka-sensei's face assuaged his worries, nodding slightly Iruka-sensei walked back to the front of the class.

Naruto sighed, deciding after such a close call it was better to play it safe, lest he face detention anyway, he payed closer attention for the rest of the class. After a little over an hour of the absolutely boring talk of the origins of chakra the lunch bell finally rang. Filling the school with what to Naruto could only be described as the sound of freedom.

As all the students stood to leave for the their thirty minute lunch break, Naruto purposefully walked over to the kid with the pony-tail. "Hey, thanks for the save, I woulda been in a lot of trouble if you hadn't helped me." Naruto held out his hand in a handshake gesture.

The other boy looked at him quizzically. "What are you talkin about man?" The other boy asked ignoring the proffered handshake all together, his hands jammed into his pants pockets.

Now it was Naruto's turn to look confused, the pony-tailed boy taking Naruto's silence as the end of whatever conversation they were about to have, turned leaving Naruto where he stood. "Hey Shikamaru, what was that about?" Naruto heard a slightly chubby brown haired boy ask the pony-tailed boy.

"You got me." Was the response Naruto heard before both boy's exited the classroom. Deciding not to try and figure out why the Shikamaru kid wouldn't except his thanks for helping him, Naruto started idly wondering if he would have enough time to eat at Ichiraku ramen before the bell rang again. Just as he was about to chance it Iruka-sensei appeared in front of him.

"Naruto, your going to need to stay after class today." Before Naruto could argue about the unfairness of life Iruka-sensei had already shooed him out the door towards the cafeteria.

"Man this is such bull!" Naruto angrily stomped around the playground, a half crushed melon bread package in his right hand caught in a death grip, "Argh!" he yelled kicking a large rock with his sandal clad feet, effectively bruising his toes, reflexively he threw his crushed pastry at a nearby tree. He spent the rest of the lunch break debating just skipping the second half of the day.

Eventually he decided against it and so he found himself back in the classroom, listening to Iruka-sensei's lecture, he spent most of his time leveling a glare at said sensei. Trying his best to cause him to burst into flame with his mind. Once again he felt that sharp pain in the back of his head.

"I wonder if Sasuke likes me?"

"Sasuke's gotta be the cutest guy in the whole academy."

"Man I'm hungry."

"Ugh why does school have to be so troublesome?"

Naruto clutched his head, attempting to ease the pain he began rubbing one of his temples. Finally getting fed up with all the talking Naruto shot to his feet. "Would you all just shut up!" He yelled slamming his tiny fist onto his desk. Everyone turned to stare at the blonde haired boy.

"What's his problem?"

"Why's he so weird."

"Mom and dad said he was strange."

"Just leave me alone!" He continued clutching his head shaking it side to side, the pain increasing every second.

"Uzumaki! I will not let you continue to disturb my class, now please stand out in the hall!" Iruka-sensei marched up to him grabbing him by his arm and beginning to drag him towards the door.

"Stupid brat, why does the Hokage even let you try to become a ninja?"

Naruto looked up into the eye's of his sensei, what he saw was the same cold stare everyone in the village gave him when he would walk the streets, like he was less than human like he didn't matter. Jerking his arm free of Iruka's grasp he turned towards him tears threatening to spill over the edge of his small blue eyes.

"Why... why do you all look at me like that!"

Iruka looked slightly taken aback at Naruto's outburst. "Naruto what are you talking about?"

"Everyone.. everyone looks at me with that same cold stare like... like I'm not even worth the time it would take to kick me outta their way." Naruto continued his voice going down to barely more than a whisper, the aching in his head finally subsiding.

Iruka's features softened just a little bit he slid the door closed separating the two of them from the rest of his class. "Naruto... Listen for a minute.. I'm" Iruka sighed "I'm sorry.. I didn't mean too make you feel that way." Iruka bent down looking directly into Naruto's eyes, his hands on Naruto's tiny shoulders. "I'm new to this whole teaching thing.. just like your new to being a student.. and just like with anything when you start something new your bound to make some mistakes.. so let's start over." Iruka rose to his feet extending a hand to the child. "Hello my name is Iruka Umino, and I'll be your sensei this year." Naruto gave a small forced smile to the older man grabbing his large hand with his smaller one. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm gonna be your Hokage someday." Was the young boys response.


	2. First Friends, First Fights

Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 2

First Friends, First Fights

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

Naruto followed Iruka-sensei back into the classroom, all the students were still staring in his general direction, however on look from Iruka and they all shot their gazes back down to their text books almost instantaneously. Naruto slogged back up to his seat at the top row, he could still hear whispers every now and then, mostly pertaining to his outburst. His cheeks colored slightly as he realized he may have overreacted just a little bit.

Another thirty minutes passed, before Iruka-sensei loudly clapped his hands gaining the attention of the entire class. "Alright students, its time for the physical portion of today's class." As Iruka walked towards the exit of the classroom, the entirety of his class got up to follow him to the outside field. When everyone had made it out of the building Iruka told them to pair off and begin their stretches.

Naruto stood in the middle of the field looking on as all the other students broke off into pairs. He would have asked someone to be his partner, however he had quickly learned that he was everyone's last choice. After everyone was finished he walked up to the only other child without a partner.

Miru Takai was a frail and sickly child with white shoulder length scraggly hair and light pink eyes, he had dark circles under his eyes and a very persistent cough. Even so Naruto needed a partner and Miru was the only one left, so walking up to the pale child he introduced himself. "Hey I'm Naruto Uzumaki." he greeted the only child in class who was actually shorter than himself.

Miru nodded in greeting coughing slightly into his fisted hand. Now with their respective partners for the day Miru and Naruto walked to the center of the field doing their daily stretches, followed by copying Iruka in the day's exercises. Afterwords they went through the academy kata together, Naruto was actually surprised how much he enjoyed hanging out with the sickly ninja student.

"You know what Miru? You're really not a bad guy, hanging out with you was pretty cool." Naruto laughed as they walked back into the school, the afternoon exercise finished for the day. "I like hanging out with you to." Miru had said it quietly almost imperceptibly so, even as such he still ended up coughing for the next few minutes.

"Hey 'cough' you wanna be friends... I mean 'cough' if you want to." Naruto's smile grew as he took in his first friends words. "Of course." he laughed slightly happy with how the day had progressed even with the rocky start.

Miru gave a smile himself also chuckling slightly though he wasn't sure why. "Thanks Naruto, I've 'cough' actually never had any friends before."

The two new friends made plans to hang out after school and went to their separate seats. Iruka followed in seconds later. "Okay class I am going to start passing out these sheets" Iruka held up a piece of paper with writing that was to small for Naruto to make out from the distance he was sitting.

"They're permission slips for a overnight training camp, set up for next week" He started walking up the steps passing out stacks of paper to each row. "It is imperative that these be returned with your parent or guardians signature by the day after tomorrow."

Naruto stared at the paper for a moment, before hesitantly raising his hand. "Sensei what about me?"

Iruka turned towards him thinking for a short time. "Well the Hokage is technically your guardian so you should ask him." The way Iruka said the words made it obvious he really wasn't sure how to answer the question.

Shortly after the school bell rang signaling the end of the day's classes, as the students chaotically ran towards the door, Naruto walked over to his new friend. "So 'cough' what should we do?" Naruto mulled the question over for a minute as much as he hated to admit it he had no clue what friends did together, never having any of his own, similar to Miru.

So he asked the one thing he could think of. "Do you like ramen?" Miru nodded slowly and as simply as that the two left heading towards the best and only place Naruto would eat ramen.

"Old man Teuchi, what's up?" Naruto called as he took a seat at the small noodle stand, Miru taking a seat to his right.

"Ah, Naruto, how are you doing today?" The old man came out from the back of his shop, his features slightly wrinkled, a warm smile adorned his face, along with his apron and white chef's hat he certainly looked the part of the expert noodle chef.

"I need two large bowls of miso ramen with roasted pork." Naruto said, then turning towards Miru he continued "Order whatever you like its on me." He pulled out his small frog-like coin-wallet waving it in the air.

"So who's this Naruto a friend of yours?" Teuchi tried to hide the surprise in his tone but wasn't all that sure he was successful, it was no secret that the adults in the village thought ill of the child, and that attitude had passed to their children as well. It sickened Teuchi to think that anyone could treat a child the way that Naruto was treated, demon vessel or not.

"Yeah this is Miru he's in my class." Naruto happily pointed at his new friend, a large smile spread across his small face, stretching the whisker like marks that adorned his cheeks. "Um... I'll have a bowl of Chicken 'cough' ramen."

"That sounds easy enough, I'll have it ready in just a couple minutes." Teuchi walked towards the back of his stand where the cooking appliances were located. "Naruto... About that wallet?" Miru spoke softly, pointing at the green object that was sitting on the counter.

"Huh.. What about it?" Naruto looked at his new friend strangely, unsure what he was getting at. "Doesn't it remind you of 'cough' Gamabunta?" Naruto continued to stare at his friend his eyes scrunched in concentration, trying to remember where he had heard that name before.

"Gamabunta?" Naruto said the name as if testing it. "Never heard of him." He gave up trying to figure out where he had heard the name.

"He's the fourth Hokage's personal summon, we learned about him in class... today." Upon the mention of his idol Naruto's attention shot back to his sickly friend. "Really the fourth Hokage!" The excitement on his face was rather obvious stars practically shining in his eyes. "That's awesome!" He concluded his grin back bigger than ever.

"That settles it then." He picked up the small green frog shaped wallet holding it up in the air slightly above his face. "From this moment on your name is Gama-chan."

"Your going to name 'cough' your wallet?" Miru looked at the scene slightly confused unsure what to think of his new and only friend. "Huh, yeah why not?" Was Naruto's own puzzled response.

"No reason just 'cough' never heard of someone 'cough' naming a wallet." Miru said dismissively waving his hand in front of his face. "Well now you have." Naruto proudly jammed one of his thumbs toward his chest in a pointing gesture.

A moment later and Teuchi had layed two steaming bowls of ramen in front of their respective owners. They ate in relative silence, just the occasional joke from Naruto breaking the peaceful atmosphere. "Hey... Naruto?" Miru spoke up as he finished his bowl.

"Yeah what's up?" Naruto responded in between slurps of ramen, currently on his second bowl. "What made you want to be a ninja?" Naruto had to strain his ears to hear the quiet question, not yet used to his new friends soft-spoken attitude.

"I don't wanna be just a ninja, I'm going to be the best Hokage ever." Naruto's excitement returned now that he was talking about his personal dream. "Oh... really?" Miru voice lost even more volume as he seemed deep in thought, or as deep as a seven year old could get anyway.

"What about you?" Miru seemed caught off guard by the simple turn around of his own question. "I.. uh... well... um.." Naruto watched Miru stumble over his own words not sure what was so hard to say. "You don't have to say, if you don't want to-" Naruto trailed off trying to make his friend more comfortable.

Miru shook his head "Its okay 'cough' its not a secret or anything... I 'cough' don't want to... be a ninja I mean." Naruto's confusion returned at Miru's words but either way he nodded his head as if in understanding.

"If you don't wanna do it why are you?" The question was innocent enough but Naruto regretted it when he saw the look on his friends face. "Never mind, hey Miru I'll see you tomorrow okay I gotta stop by the old man's place." Naruto hurriedly finished the last bit of his ramen before running off in the direction of the Hokage's mansion.

His heart was pounding in his chest as he ran, he wasn't sure why but something about what had just happened had scared him, maybe it was fear that his questions had upset his friend and he didn't want to lose him. Sure they had only become friends earlier that same day, but still he had never had any kind of bond with anyone, and now that he did, no matter how small, he didn't want to lose it. He only stopped running when he reached the large building that was the Hokage's residence.

Struggling to regain his breath Naruto slowly pushed open the large ornate double doors leading into the spacious waiting room for the Hokage's visitors. Walking up to the secretary he rang the bell on the desk in order to get her attention away from the papers she was staring at. Raising her head she narrowed her eyes slightly almost imperceptibly, her thin wire frame glasses and long dark hair held up in a pony-tail only added to the air of seriousness she seemed to exude at all times.

"Hello Uzumaki, how may I help you today?" Even though her words were kind her voice was terse almost hostile in nature.

"I.. uh.. the money for my groceries." Naruto always felt nervous when he had to speak with the Hokage's secretary, something about the stare she gave him was very unsettling.

"Right, I have it here." She smiled, handing him a small envelope, Naruto could tell the smile was fake, it was obvious even to a child like him.

"Also uh... Can I see the old man?" The secretary's smile dropped slightly. "What ever for?" She continued her eyes narrowing a bit more. Naruto produced the folded slip of paper from his pocket handing it to the women. She looked over it briefly before picking up a pen and signing it quickly, giving it back to Naruto the strange fake smile back in place.

"The Hokage's busy today, but that should do, now off you go." She shooed him away. "Little monster" she whispered that last part so Naruto couldn't hear. Done with everything he needed to do for the day Naruto headed back towards his apartment.

Naruto awoke the next morning excited for the day ahead, not only did he have his first friend but also it was their classes first sparring practice. He ate breakfast in a hurry and rushed out the door, almost forgetting to lock it in the process. Making it to the academy in record time he sat in the same seat he had the day before. Waiting impatiently for Miru to arrive he observed as his classmates started filtering into the room.

A cute pink-haired girl was one of the first to enter her blonde-haired friend next to her, after that was the same pony-tailed boy he had talked to the day before with his chubby friend. A strange dark-haired girl who never seemed to look people in the eye, a boy that wore sunglasses at all times followed by Sasuke, and a boy that smelled similar to a dog kennel. Naruto had almost given up hope by the time Miru entered the room. The sickly boy made a b-line for Naruto taking a seat beside him, the two engaging in small talk for the remainder of the time before Iruka entered the room.

Naruto payed little attention to excited for the sparring sessions later that day and before he knew it the lunch bell had rung. Miru and Naruto made their way towards the academy cafeteria, Naruto grabbing a pastry as he had done the day before, while Miru had brought his lunch from home. Neither one was sure what to say and they ended up eating in silence.

After lunch the entire class marched out to the field, after doing their stretches the class stood in a single file line waiting for Iruka's instructions. "Okay class, today will be the first sparring competition of the year, the rules are simple, matches are done when I say they are, and use of jutsu of any kind is strictly forbidden." Iruka walked back and forth in front of the line of students as though he were some kind of drill instructer. "Of course use of deadly force is also forbidden, three downs equals an out, so in other words you get knocked to the ground three times you lose, starting today once a month we will hold this competition in order to gauge your physical abilities, so as to keep it fair pairs will be chosen at random, so when I call your name please enter the circle." Iruka motioned towards the patch of grass that they had drawn a circular chalk line around.

Iruka gave the whole class small slips of paper, instructing them to write their names on them and then hand them back, after everyone had done so Iruka placed all the slips into a small bucket. Closing his eyes he pulled two slips at random. "Okay first match Ami Murasakiiro versus Shino Aburame." As Iruka called out the participants, the female students started to voice their disagreement.

"Sensei, Shino's a boy its not fair for Ami to have to fight him!" Iruka recognized the girl as one of Ami's friends, Kasumi Shitsumei, Iruka sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose, he had expected something like this.

"Kasumi I understand your complaint, however when you become a ninja you won't be able to say you don't want to fight someone just because their boys and your girls" Kasumi still seemed upset but she let the subject drop. "Good, okay you two step into the circle." the children did as they were told walking to opposite sides of the 'ring' and getting into their personal stances, Shino's knees bent slightly one arm held out in front of him as if to block incoming attacks, the other stuck in the pocket of his tan hooded jacket. Meanwhile Ami had positioned herself in a basic academy stance.

"Okay first you must make the Seal of Confrontation." Iruka explained showing the two by raising his hand in front of his face, his pointer and middle finger lifted up while the others where folded down, the two children doing as instructed.

"Alright... Begin!" Iruka yelled giving them a start motion with his hand. Ami rushed up to Shino recklessly throwing punches that the sun-glasses clad boy had little trouble dodging, after the sixth missed strike Shino spun around to Ami's side catching her off guard and throwing an elbow that smashed directly into the young purple haired girl's face. Sending her to the floor, almost immediately the child began crying clutching at her face, blood seeping through her small hands as it poured from her possibly broken nose.

Iruka winced as the girls head roughly bounced off the cold ground, he had seen the attack coming from a mile away. However Ami had not, unfortunately her one week of academy basic training had done little to prepare her for a fight with one of the clan children. Who had more than likely already been training with his family for years.

Iruka had to call the match once it became obvious that Ami had no intention of trying to continue the fight, walking over he helped the crying child to her feet, gently he tried to peel the girls small hands away from her face. It quickly became apparent that it wasn't going to be easy, but even so he eventually managed to coax the girl into letting him look at her wounded nose. He sighed slightly in relieve as he saw that it was in fact not broken, the bruise that would no doubt appear was a different story altogether.

After Iruka had walked Ami to the nurses station the matches resumed, Naruto lost interest rather quickly more exited for his own match than he was in watching the other kids. What felt like a lifetime to Naruto passed before his Name was called. "Naruto Uzumaki versus Sasuke Uchiha." Naruto grinned as the words left his sensei's lips, he couldn't wait to show mister perfect that he wasn't so great.

"Walking into the ring Naruto stood opposite his opponent, both children making the sign of confrontation, while he knew no actual fighting style he took a stance that to him felt comfortable. Sasuke got into his own family's fighting stance, one arm stretched out towards naruto, with the other clenched down near his knee. "Ready... Fight!" Iruka yelled for the fifteenth time that day and as with all the others the two children quickly ran towards each other.

Before Naruto could comprehend what had gone wrong he found himself on his back staring up at the sky. Sasuke positioned over top of him, one of his fists poised to strike the young blonde in the throat. "Point Sasuke!" Iruka hollered out raising an arm into the air.

Naruto was seething by the time he had returned to his starting point, 'I can't, I won't accept that he's that much better than me.' was the thought racing through his head. On Iruka's call Naruto rushed forward again, managing to dodge Sasuke's opening attack this time, however the results were still the same with Naruto on the ground staring up at the clear blue sky, a scene that would bring peace to most only filled Naruto with anger, so much he was about at his limit.

Naruto angrily struck the ground his tiny knuckles starting to bleed from the force he had exerted. Standing to his feet he returned to his starting point once again, a small headache forming as he waited for Iruka to begin the match again. "Fight!"

Naruto rushed in again, Sasuke opening with the same attack he had previously, Naruto was able to dodge it, the pain in the back of his mind increasing with every step he took. Dodging the second strike Naruto launched his own attack, which Sasuke easily avoided. 'right' the thought popped into his mind and without hesitating he moved to the right barely avoiding a strike to his jugular. Another random though ran through Naruto's mind as Sasuke's fist brushed past his neck, he could feel the knuckles scrap against his skin, and at the same time Naruto brought his knee forward feeling it make contact.

Sasuke gasped for air bent over holding his gut, the force of the blow seemed to have knocked the air out of him. Before Naruto could capitalize on the opening a sudden influx of pain caused him to clench his head, a migraine similar to the day before assualting his senses. Voices flooding his mind, overflowing his brain with information.

"How dare that loser hit Sasuke!"

"Talk about a low blow man."

"Jeez, whats wrong with him?"

"Hows he expect to be a ninja if he can't take advantage of openings."

"Just finish it already!"

Recovering before Naruto, Sasuke spun performing a sweeping move that sent Naruto to the ground, Iruka calling the point. Naruto lay on the ground the pain barely starting to subside, he wasn't sure what was happening but he knew it wasn't normal.

"I knew the loser couldn't do it."

"Talk about dropping the ball, man"

"Thats what that annoying freak gets, hurting Sasuke like that!"

As the pain slowly faded so to did the voices allowing Naruto to regain his balance and stand. He was angry not particularly at Sasuke more at himself, the sudden pain had not only cost him the only chance he had at getting a point on Sasuke, but also made him look like a complete loser in front of the whole class. He clenched his fists, walking towards the center of the circle as Iruka instructed him.

"Okay now you two perform the Seal of Reconciliation." Sasuke extended the two fingers used to form the Seal of Confrontation, holding his hand out to Naruto. Naruto grit his teeth, so hard he could almost feel them cracking under the pressure. His thoughts were a jumbled mess, anger causing his whole body to shake. "Naruto now!" Iruka raised his voice slightly, as he saw Naruto unwilling to perform the traditional rite.

"Screw you both!" Naruto took off running, tears of frustration staining his face, he wouldn't stop till he reached his front door, and even then it would take hours before he would be able to calm himself down.

End

A/N I'm going to try and update every Sunday if I can, please read and review.


	3. Dinner With Family

Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 3

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

Naruto sat on his old ragged couch, deep in thought, trying to come up with some kind of explanation as to what was going on with him. He knew that he had heard the kids yelling as he tried to fight Sasuke, but he hadn't scene their lips moving and when he thought back to the previous day, it was the same he knew all the kids were making fun of him, but their mouths weren't forming any words. A sudden knock at his front door made him jump slightly, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"Who would visit me?" He muttered to himself, standing slowly to his feet he walked over to his decrepit door, opening it slightly to peak out the side, curious to who his visitor could be, the sun had just started to set, but there was still enough light to make out the figure on the other side of the door.

"Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked opening the door the rest of the way to allow his sensei into the small apartment.

Naruto was more surprised by the smaller visitor behind Iruka. The white hair and pink eyes were a dead give-away "Miru, what are you two doin here?" Naruto asked happy to see his friend but also confused to why he was at his apartment and with sensei.

"Naruto 'cough' I need to ask you something." Miru said as the two entered the cramped dirty room, almost having to play hopscotch to avoid the trash and dirty laundry that littered the ground. Naruto stepped aside to allow them to maneuver his apartment easier. "I don't have any tea or nothin' but if you want some water I can probably find a clean cup somewhere." Both of his guests shook there heads saying they were fine, Naruto shrugged his shoulders taking a seat on at the kitchen table, it being the only place that could comfortably seat three people.

"What did you need sensei, Miru?" Naruto asked scratching the back of his head as a yawn forced itself from his throat. "I'm just came because Miru wasn't sure where you lived" Iruka gestured towards the sickly boy.

"Uh... Naruto 'cough' my mom wanted me to 'cough' invite you to dinner tomorrow, you left in such a hurry today 'cough' I didn't get a chance to ask you." Naruto was taken slightly aback he had never been invited to someones house before, much less for a free meal. He nodded dumbly unsure how to respond to the gesture of goodwill he was faced with.

"That's great I'll tell her your coming, 'cough' make sure you wait for me tomorrow so I can 'cough' show you how to get to our 'cough' house." Miru seemed genuinely happy that Naruto had agreed to come over, Iruka and Miru didn't stay much longer than that, showing themselves out. 'I wonder how Iruka-sensei knew where I lived' he thought as he decided to get ready for bed, the combination of his confusion and first real sparring match causing him to feel the exhaustion of the day.

Naruto awoke the next morning equal parts excited and nervous, it was a little early so he decided to take a quick shower,he had already entered the water before remembering that the water heater was broken. Shivering slightly he threw his last pair of clean clothes on, making a mental note to wash them later. He seriously debated skipping school, if it wasn't for Miru he probably would have.

As he entered the classroom, he was more aware than usual of all the stares directed his way, he guessed he should have expected it, while he wasn't the best student he knew that refusing to perform the Seal of Reconciliation was a huge sign of disrespect not only to his opponent but to the village as a whole. Averting his gaze to the floor he slowly made his way to the seat next to Miru.

'I should probably apologize to Mr. perfect.' The thought of it made his stomach lurch into his throat, he couldn't stand even thinking of saying sorry to the one person in the class that had everything he wished he did.

Not long after that Iruka entered and class started, Naruto spent most of class time doodling in his notebook. During the physical part of classes Naruto made more progress than usual, that last thing he wanted was a repeat of last time, with a month till the next sparring session, he was determined to get strong enough to beat anyone he was put up against.

"Naruto can you wait for a minute." Iruka called as the rest of the class filed out of the room, the bell having already rang. "I'm sorry sensei, I didn't mean to run away yesterday, I just... I don't know." Iruka tried to put on his best look of understanding. "Its okay Naruto just don't let it happen again."

Naruto nodded his head before quickly trying to take off. "Naruto that's not what I wanted to talk about." Iruka called after the fleeing boy, Naruto stopped, attempting to think of what else he could have done to get in trouble. "What is it sensei?" Naruto asked unable to think of any thing else he had done at least recently. Slowly he walked back to Iruka.

"You're going to a friends house today." It wasn't a question, after all Iruka had been there when Miru had asked him to come. "Yeah." Naruto answered anyway.

"Okay, so do you know anything about table manners?" Iruka already had a good idea about the answer to this one, having seen the young boy in the cafeteria more than once. "What does manners mean?" The confused look on Naruto's face, was enough proof for Iruka to know he wasn't joking.

"That's what I was afraid of." Iruka sighed, rubbing his temple trying to will away the approaching headache. "Naruto I'm going to teach you everything you need to know about manners, so I'll go tell Miru to wait and I'm going to be right back." Iruka started to leave the classroom only for Naruto to stop him. "Sensei, how long is this gonna take?" Naruto asked impatiently shifting from one foot to the other.

Iruka thought about it for a minute before answering "I would say thirty minutes at the most." Naruto groaned childishly as Iruka walked out the door, returning a few minutes later with Miru in tow. "Okay lets get started." Naruto nodded albeit rather stubbornly, hanging his head as he trudged to a nearby desk, Miru following close behind.

Almost two hours later and Iruka was finally starting to believe Naruto understood enough about manners to risk going to his friends house. "Okay Naruto what do you do before eating?" Iruka posed the question. "Say 'Itadakimasu' right" Naruto said clasping his hands slightly in a motion similar to if he was praying.

Miru was amazed by the amount of information Naruto didn't know, Iruka had explained earlier how Naruto was an orphan but even so it was like his friend was completely lacking in common sense and normal social skills. Miru knew his mom probably wouldn't make a big deal out of it, his father on the other hand was a very traditional man.

After another ten or so minutes Iruka gave them the go ahead to leave, satisfied that Naruto could at least get through one meal with other people. Iruka waved at the children as they left, he was seriously starting to wonder how he had ever thought of the young boy as anything other than human.

Miru and Naruto slowly navigated their way out of the academy towards the rich part of town to the east. Naruto couldn't help feeling nervous, this would be one of the only times he had spent any time with adults, and he was worried that if he didn't make a good impression, Miru wouldn't be allowed to be his friend anymore.

"Hey Miru?" Miru turned his head in Naruto's direction to signify he was listening. "What's it like... to have parents I mean?" Miru almost stopped in his tracks, the question catching him by surprise. "What do 'cough' you mean?" Naruto fidgeted slightly as they walked. "Well its just I never had any..." Naruto trailed off.

"I'm 'cough' really not sure how to answer, Naruto." Miru felt a little awkward like if he said it was amazing it would be like rubbing it in Naruto's face, on the other hand if he said anything else he felt that Naruto would know he was lying. "I see." Naruto muttered, the rest of the walk to Miru's home was in silence. It took maybe another fifteen minutes to arrive from where they were, Naruto couldn't help but stair at the nice house in front of him, it was a traditional wooden building.

They entered into the large abode Miru taking his sandals off and instructing Naruto to do the same, handing him a pair of house slippers. When they had finished Miru lead Naruto through the house, calling to his mother that he had arrived, and that Naruto was with him. The woman emerging from the kitchen just a couple minutes later. She had long dark hair with a bluish tint, held up in a long pony tail, and light colored eyes that were the same color as the sky, a small kind smile adorned her face, a long white apron covering her clothes, a few stains here and there to show she had been cooking, she clasped her small hands in front of her bowing slightly in Naruto's direction.

Naruto bowed back, as Iruka had taught him. "Hello Mrs. Takai, my name is Naruto Uzumaki" he introduced himself. "Oh my, how polite, its very nice to meet you Naruto-chan my name is Mitsuko Takai, I'm Miru's mother." She said covering her mouth as she laughed lightly. "Miru why don't you show Naruto-chan to your room, I'll call you both when dinner is ready." Mitsuko headed back into the kitchen leaving Miru and Naruto to their own devices.

Miru guided Naruto to his room, it was small with a few posters of some of the leaf's famous ninja, a futon instead of a bed was folded into the corner. With a small drawing table in the center of the room, small cushions around it for people to sit. A medium sized bookshelf was along the wall, with both comics and history books adorning its shelves.

The two sat for awhile the silence comfortable, not awkward, Naruto had grabbed one of the comics from the bookcase. Reading through it while Miru studied, he had never even seen a comic book before but he knew the other boy's in class talked about them a lot. "Hey Miru do you know any jutsu?" Naruto wasn't sure if the question was to personal, but asked it anyway. "Yeah, a couple." Miru nodded in the affirmative. "My dad's a ninja and he taught me 'cough' a few easy ones." Naruto got an excited look in his eyes, almost to the point that lights were sparkling in them.

"Can you show me!?" He raised his voice a little louder than he had meant to, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet in a childish way. Miru seemed to be debating for a minute before he nodded his head happily, standing to his feet and bringing his hands together in a way Naruto had observed other ninja, after a minute of focusing deeply he called out the name of his technique "Clone Jutsu" and in a puff of smoke another Miru appeared, he looked a little paler and slightly thinner, but otherwise there was no difference.

"That's amazing!" Naruto was even more excited now, rushing around happily poking at both Miru and his clone, a few minutes later and another puff of smoke signaled the end of the clones lifespan. "do you know anymore?" Miru nodded almost tiredly. "Yeah but I can't do anymore, right now I don't have enough chakra." Naruto nodded his spirits dampening just a little, though he got over it quickly enough.

"You're lucky, I can't even mold chakra yet." Naruto sat back down at the small table. "I could 'cough' teach you." Naruto looked up at his friend his hyper attitude returning quickly. "Really! You're awesome Miru, that's awesome, dattebayo!" Miru looked at Naruto a confused look on his childish face. "Dattebayo?" Naruto for his part looked slightly embarrassed, rubbing the back of his head.

"What's that mean, I've never heard that word before?" Miru asked curiously, trying to find meaning to the strange utterance. "It.. uh, its not a word, when I get excited it kind of just... pops out." Naruto said almost shyly, looking down at the floor. "Oh... well I can try to teach you tomorrow if you want." Miru tried changing the subject, being able to tell how uncomfortable his friend was.

"Thanks!" Miru started to wonder how his friend could have mood changes so fast as the previous shy, embarrassed Naruto was quickly replaced by the hyperactive excited Naruto. Seconds later Miru's mother walked into the room. "Dinners ready." She said in her quiet subdued voice. "Also your father's home," she said walking out of the room, Miru and Naruto following shortly after.

Walking into the dining room Naruto caught sight of Miru's father for the first time, he was a tall man with the same hair and eyes as his son, the only difference was while Miru's hair was mid length almost down to his shoulders, his father's was cropped into a military style. Where as Miru had a kind sickly look his father, had a stern stoic aura with a gruff face. He stared at Naruto as he sat next to Miru at the table, his expression closely guarded, never changing.

"You must be the Uzumaki boy." The man's voice matched his look perfectly, a deep coarse sound that reverberated throughout the young boy's spine, this was by far the most intimidating ninja Naruto had yet to meet. "Yes sir." Naruto said, his back perfectly straight, having remained standing, slowly he bent his back in an almost ninety degree angle, bowing towards the man sitting at the head of the table. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, future ninja of Konoha, I am glad to meet you sir." The words tasted funny in Naruto's mouth he had never acted formally before, but this was what Iruka had told him to do and as such its what he would do.

"Well said Uzumaki-san, take pride in your future as a ninja of the village, my son could learn something from that." The man's voice seemed to echo through the house, Miru's look turned downcast at his father's words. "I suppose I should introduce myself as well Uzumaki-san, I am Ryouta Takai, Jonin of Konoha." The man lowered his head a fraction of an inch towards the young boy, afterwords signaling for him to sit.

"So Naruto-chan, are you from a clan, who're your parents?" Naruto was surprised by the question, and immediately his disposition dropped, he place his chopsticks down, before answering, as uncomfortable as the question made him. Iruka had stressed the importance of answering all questions to the best of his ability. "I don't know who my parents were, I've never met them." Mitsuko quickly regretted her question, and looked to her husband, as though asking him to change the subject.

"Uzumaki-san, what are your plans, for after you've become a ninja." Naruto perked slightly as the subject turned to something he liked to talk about. "I'm gonna be the Hokage, even better than any of the others, then people will respect me, just like the old man." Ryouta nodded his head slightly in understanding. "I see, although you can't force others to respect you, you have to earn the respect before you become the Hokage." Naruto stared at the older man for a second before diverting his attention from the man's burning gaze.

"Naruto-chan, what made you want to become the Hokage." Mitsuko asked honestly wondering how someone so young could already have such large plans for the future. Once again Naruto's mood seemed to droop, but even so there was a kind of determination in his eyes. "The old man Hokage told me, that seven years ago a giant demon attacked the village, but that the fourth Hokage killed it and stopped the attack, at the cost of his own life, even so a lot of other people died too, including my parents, I think, if the Hokage could have beat it just a little faster I might not be an orphan, my parents and so many others would still be alive, that's why if I can be a Hokage even stronger than he was, then something like that won't happen again, right." Miru just stared at his friend, where as Mitsuko looked a little emotional, Ryouta however had the same stoic look on his face, even still he was the first to speak.

"I see, that is a very honorable goal, and I assure you that when you become Hokage the Takai clan will stand with you." Ryouta said to the young boy, while on the outside he had made no noticeable movements on the inside, a swirl of emotions had consumed him. "I've heard of this demon, the Nine Tailed Fox, our family just moved here a little over five years ago from the land of water, as such we did not yet reside in this village during the tragedy." Ryouta continued in his rough voice.

The rest of dinner proceeded in silence, and it wasn't long before they were finished, Naruto did his best to remember all of the things Iruka had taught him earlier that day. "Naruto-chan its getting late, why don't you stay the night, I'd feel bad making you walk home in the dark." Mitsuko said sending a look at her husband who nodded almost imperceptibly.

Naruto thought about it for just a few seconds before agreeing, though he was a little nervous having never stayed at someone's house other than his own. "Good you can stay in Miru's room, we have a spare futon in the hall closet, I'll set it up for you when I'm done cleaning." Naruto nodded getting up to follow Miru back to his room. "Thank you for your hospitality." Another thing Iruka had told him to say when he left, but Naruto figured that it would work here as well.

"Hey Miru what was it like in the land of water?" Naruto asked as they sat back in his room. "I don't remember I was really young when we moved to Konoha, mom and dad don't like to talk about it so I figure we left for a reason." Naruto nodded doing the math in his head and realizing that Miru was probably only two at the time.

Not long after Mitsuko entered the room, with Ryouta behind her carrying the extra futon. The two working together quickly set up the room for the night. "The bath will be ready in just a little while okay" Mitsuko said in her sweet motherly way. Miru nodded, but Naruto raised his hand a little. "Naruto-chan you don't have to raise your hand, your not in school." He lowered his hand before asking his question. "Um... I don't have any clothes with me."

"Don't worry about that, Naruto-chan, I'm sure Miru has something that'll fit you." With those words both Mitsuko and Ryouta exited the room. The two sat in a comfortable silence for a while after that neither really sure what to talk about at this point. Naruto had gone back to reading the same comic book he was earlier, while Miru seemed to be studying something. "Hey Miru, what're you readin?" Naruto asked his curiosity getting the better of him.

"This... Its.. 'cough' Its.. a book." Naruto stared at his friend for a moment. "I know that, what's it about?" Naruto continued to probe, standing up and stretching his legs. "Its... a book about 'cough' ninja?" Miru answered the question in an odd way almost as if he were asking a question himself. "Really cool!" Naruto swiped the book from Miru's hand and began flipping through the pages.

"Miru, this is about plants." Naruto closed the book reading the cover, 'Gardening Basics, Easy Steps To Being An Expert Herbalist' Naruto raised an eyebrow slightly, turning the book over a couple times confused. "I don't see ninja anywhere in this." Miru quickly took the book back putting on his bookshelf. "Do you like gardnin or something" Naruto said fumbling over the larger word. "Don't tell my dad 'cough' if he found out I was learning about medicinal , he would be even more disappointed in me than he already is." Naruto scratched the back of his head even more confused. "I won't.. but what's wrong with plants, I mean yeah they're a little girly but as long as you become a kickass ninja it don't matter."

Miru shook his head slightly. "My dad 'cough' can't stand the thought of me wanting to be anything other than a 'cough' frontline shinobi, If he found out I wanted to be a doctor instead 'cough' he would get really mad." Naruto was still confused but either way nodded in agreement. "Miru, Naruto-chan the baths ready." They voice of Miru's mom drifted through the house.

Naruto stood outside the bathroom door, a little nervous he had never bathed with anyone before, unless he counted the old man, Miru and his dad had already walked into the large bathroom, and he knew they were probably waiting on him to enter. A sudden tap on his shoulder causing him to spin on his heel, standing behind him was Mitsuko clothes in her arms. "Whats wrong Naruto-chan?" The embarrassed blush on Naruto's face did nothing to hide his nervousness.

"I've.. uh never actually.. y'know.. been in a bath with anyone else." Mitsuko laughed lightly. "I see are you nervous." Naruto nodded slowly slight his cheeks coloring even more. A look of understanding blossomed across Mitsuko's face. "Don't worry Naruto, if your uncomfortable you can take a bath later, although the water might be a little cold by then."

Naruto stood a little straighter at the mention of cold water, and he would be damned if he let his embarrassment keep him from the first warm bath he'd had in days. So with determination he opened the bathroom door walking into the changing room, and quickly disrobing, before opening the screen door that led into the main bath area. Walking through the cloud of steam into the extremely large bath area, the bath itself was almost swimming pool like in its size, surrounded by with a smaller washing area directly to his left.

The nervousness vanished a bit when he caught sight of Ryouta and Miru, currently washing themselves, however the nervousness returned ten times worse when he heard someone enter the bath behind him, slowly he turned to face the person, coming face to face with Mitsuko, The blush on his face returning with a vengeance. The women was clad in a towel, but even so Naruto had never been this close to any naked women, quickly turning around he walked over to the washing area and quickly set to work. A pair of soft hands running through his hair startled him slightly, and he quickly realized it as Mitsuko again still clad in her towel.

"Do you want me to wash your hair?" She asked sweetly grabbing the shampoo, unable to speak Naruto merely nodded. The awkward moment passed as Mitsuko quickly finished washing his hair allowing Naruto to jump into the large bath, where he and Miru quickly got into a splash war, Naruto spent a majority of the bath avoiding looking in Mitsuko's general direction. Something that seemed hilarious to both her and Ryouta.

It wasn't long before Naruto found himself back in Miru's room in a pair of Miru's pajamas, with Mitsuko promising she would have his closed washed and dried before morning. Miru fell asleep rather quickly, Naruto mildly wondered how it was even possible to sleep as soon as your head hit the pillow, even so he wasn't far behind his last thought's before sleep claimed him being 'I wonder if this is what having a family feels like.'

End


	4. Chakra Problems

Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 4

Chakra Problems

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

Naruto stood in the large training field opposite Miru, his hands formed into a tiger seal as he reached inside of himself, focusing all of his determination into feeling the energy that lurked there. Every ninja academy student had to unlock their chakra before they graduated the first year, luckily Naruto had a friend that was willing to help him with that, sure he had asked some of the teachers at the academy for help but they mostly just ignored him.

Naruto had already been at it for going on three hours, with little to no improvement. He was brething heavy and sweat covered his brow, somehow it seemed that the simple act of trying to unlock chakra was enough to drain someones energy. Miru stood across from him giving him pointers and such, the same thing he said his father had done for him.

Naruto released the tiger seal with a gasp falling to his knees, his entire body ached, and that familiar sting had returned in the back of his head, the one that promised the appearance of a migraine, and with it Naruto was sure the strange whispers would reappear as well. "Maybe we should 'cough' call it a day." Miru said as he walked over and helped the exhausted Naruto to his feet.

Naruto was about to argue that he could keep going, until he saw the genuine concern on his friends face. "Okay your the sensei." Was his response instead, Miru smiled as his friend accepted his advice and together the two started the long walk back to town. However before either of them had reached the edge of the training field, Miru stopped grabbing the sleeve of Naruto's black t-shirt.

"Hey 'cough' I almost forgot to do something, you 'cough' can go ahead without me." Miru quickly took off in the opposite direction of where they had previously been going, Naruto debated for a minute wanting to go eat at Ichiraku but also not wanting his friend to have to walk alone. "Wait up!" He called running after Miru catching up to him before he managed to reach the forest on the opposite edge of the training field.

His exhaustion was still taking its toll on his young body and the headache was increasing by the minute. Even so he dutifully followed behind the white haired boy as the walked through the thick underbrush. The forest had almost completely taken over this side of the training grounds, Naruto paid close attention to the placement of the sun in the sky, or at least what he could see of it through the thick leaves covering the forest canopy. They had to be back to the village before sundown or the gates would lock, mind you it was only a little past five in the afternoon, and the gates wouldn't be fully locked down until nine. Even so Naruto figured it was better to be safe than sorry.

After thirty minutes of walking through the thick vegetation Naruto was starting to regret his decision, to follow Miru, the humidity in the forest causing what felt like buckets of sweat to pour from his small body. It was almost to the point where he thought he might be getting dehydrated, the dizziness he felt after training only increasing the further they walked into the green abyss that was the forests surrounding Konoha.

"Hey Miru, where are we goin?" Naruto questioned as he wiped some of the sweat from his eyes, the stinging feeling almost to much to bear as the salty liquid made contact with his sclera. "Its 'cough' not much farther." Was the only response that he got, so dejectedly he continued to follow the younger boy through the thicket.

Cuts and scratches started to form on Naruto's unprotected forearms the branches and spurs tearing into his clothes, the headache had subsided if only slightly, and the whispers had yet to return. Finally the two children exited into a small clearing in the middle of which was what looked to be a medium sized garden, some plants Naruto recognized from their books at school and some he didn't, he was however unable to put a name to any of them.

He watched as Miru opened the bag he had over his shoulder and removed a jug of water, going over and sprinkling it over the plants, before slowly going over each and everyone one looking at them closely. "Was this what you had to do?" Naruto asked walking over to stand beside the other boy, observing the care he handled the plants with.

Miru nodded. "Yeah 'cough' these are all medicinal plants, I've been growing them in secret for a while." Naruto was surprised that someone as young as himself even knew how to take care of a garden much less one of this size. "Where'd you learn to do this?" Miru stopped going over the plants standing and turning to face Naruto. "My mom taught me a bit, the rest 'cough' I learned from books."

"What's this one?" Naruto pointed at a smaller plant with small pink and white leaves seperated into small star shaped buds. "That's Indo-Jyaboku, the root is used for making medicine to treat snake poison." Naruto was amazed as the young boy rattled off the name of the plant and what its use was, seemingly from memory. "What about that one?" Naruto said this time indicating a tall plant with a blueish red stem and what looked like a spiky blue ball on top. "That's Hikogai, it can be used to increase blood flow." Naruto continued to point out different plants, with Miru telling him their different names and uses.

A little while later Naruto and Miru found themselves slowly making their way back through the thick wooded area. The wind had picked up over time, Naruto was a little confused as to how the wind could even reach them through the thick tree canopy. The sun had started to set, and Naruto was unsure they were even going the right way to get out of the forest, as they walked Naruto noticed his headache begin to return.

He breathed a sigh of relief as they finally emerged from the darkened forest, just a little way from the training field where they had started. They both hurried to the village gate, although they still had a while before it was nine'o'clock. The training fields while being outside the gates where still technically within the village parameters, however academy students were required to return to the village before the gates closed. Naruto clutched his head in pain as he waved goodbye to his friend, and began the walk back to his own apartment.

The dusty streets of Konoha, always seemed to be bustling with activity, something Naruto was never grateful for. It was as if for every one person that would wave or smile Naruto's way, another twenty would glare hatefully and murmur obscenities under their breath. Same as he would everyday Naruto purposely kept his gaze at the lonely dirt covered streets, never lifting it, afraid to see the stares that he could feel on his back.

Another flash of pain caused him to grip his head, 'look at the monster' he could hear the voice, but couldn't pinpoint its location. 'Why is he even still alive?' Naruto continued looking at the ground ahead of him, 'demon' He could feel the tears stinging his eyes, but he wouldn't allow them to fall. 'after everyone he killed, they just let him wander the streets' That one caught his attention a bit more than the others

"I never hurt anybody." He whispered it, afraid of what might happen should he raise his voice, the villagers had never progressed past idle threats, and hateful looks, even still the young boy couldn't help the growing fear. He felt that someday it would go further and that thought terrified him, sure he was an academy student, however that didn't help much against a full grown adult, after all he was unable to even use chakra yet.

With every step Naruto took the pain in his head increased, and as the pain increased the whispers and threats would get louder and louder. He tried covering his ears, to no avail the words penetrating his mind like a finely sharpened knife. "Please just leave me alone." He said it as loud as his current state would allow, he could feel the glares raise in intensity, an icy feeling overtaking his small body.

Naruto eventually reached the front door of his small apartment, intent on spending the rest of the evening away from the cold glares and harsh whispers that had assaulted him on his way home. The ache had grown further and before he could understand what was wrong he had collapsed in the doorway of his tiny abode. A small figure cloaked in black quickly and quietly landing near the boy, jumping from the top of a separate building across the street.

With out anyone noticing the figure gently lifted the young boy into its arms, and carried him into the apartment shutting the door. It carried Naruto into his bedroom and lightly placed him into his old ratty bed, doing a few quick handseals, the figure ran its then green glowing hands over the boy's body. After a few seconds the glow faded, and the cloaked figure covered the young boys body with an old hole filled blanket, before leaving the apartment as quietly and mysteriously as it had arrived.

The next morning came quickly, Naruto awaking in a cold sweat, another strange nightmare fresh in his mind, shaking his head side to side he tried to rid himself of the images that plagued him, he quickly regretted the action a small ache in his neck, opposing the simple action. Naruto's stomach growled loudly echoing throughout his room.

Naruto tried to remember what he had eaten the night before, only for his memories to come up blank, no matter how hard he racked his brain he was unable to remember anything after he had opened the door to his apartment. With a shrug he climbed out of bed, stretching out his arms and legs as he did so. "What happened last night?" He questioned the air, naturally getting no response, taking a quick glance at the clock on his bedside table, he would have normally been in a hurry seeing as it read nine forty three, but he quickly remembered that he didn't have school on Sundays.

Naruto made himself a cup of instant ramen before leaving the apartment, determined still to unlock his chakra. As such he found himself at the training field that he had trained at with Miru the previous day. Being a few hours early he decided to kill time with some basic exercises that the academy required its students to preform daily.

By the time Miru arrived to the training area almost three hours later, Naruto had already run his small body into the ground, blotches of mud stained his clothes, dust and debris coating his blonde hair, turning it an almost brown color, with so much sweat covering him Miru had to wonder how any liquid could be left in his body.

"Hey Miru, ready to get started." Miru couldn't hide the shock on his face as Naruto muttered those words, throwing a lazy wave in his direction. "Yeah 'cough' but you look like your about to collapse." Miru walked up to the dirt covered blonde, throwing him a scroll he had in his right hand, Naruto trying to catch it only to drop in the dirt. "What's this thing?" Naruto bent over picking up the rolled parchment and turning it over in his hands.

"Its 'cough' instructions on how to unlock chakra." Realization dawned on Naruto's dirt smudged face, he quickly unrolled the scroll scanning its contents. "I asked 'cough' my dad, how to teach someone to use 'cough' chakra, and he 'cough' told me to give you that." Naruto nodded, silently thanking Ryouta.

It didn't take long for Naruto to begin feeling a strange sort of energy filling his limbs, though he could only hold it for a few seconds, before an almost agonizing pain enveloped his childlike body, causing Naruto to scream out. Miru only stood back fear crossing his features, he didn't remember anything like this happening when he had unlocked his chakra. It lasted less than ten seconds even so, it wasn't something that Naruto or Miru would forget anytime soon.

"What.. was.. that?" Naruto gasped out the pain fading slowly, as he stood back to his feet, the pain having brought him to his knees. "I don't know 'cough' maybe we should go talk to my 'cough' dad." Miru said waiting as Naruto caught his breath.

"Okay." Naruto let out a sigh, both children beginning their long trek to Miru's house, the walk took a little over thirty minutes from the training field, luckily Ryouta didn't have a mission that day. Ryouta sat patiently and waited for Miru and Naruto to explain exactly what had happened. "I see, I'm afraid I don't know what the problem could be." Ryouta thought for a minute more, in the meanwhile Mitsuko brought in a tray of tea, serving the three of them before excusing herself.

"Come you two." Ryouta finally spoke rising to his feet, a look of realization overtaking his stern face. "Dad where are we 'cough' going?" Ryouta strode towards the door answering without turning his head. "To see the Hokage." The two boys quickly sped up trying to match the pace of Ryouta as he marched through the village, Naruto was surprised to notice that none of the villagers were looking at him with their cold stares, in fact they weren't looking at him at all, the majority staring at Ryouta in what looked to be a mixture of fear and curiosity.

Naruto supposed that ninja of Ryouta's rank rarely marched through the village at least not with such an intense look on their face. The secretary behind the desk in the Hokage's office jumped as the door slammed open. "I need to see Hokage-sama." Ryouta announced as he strode up to the girls desk. "I'm sorry sir but without an appointment I can't let yo-" Ryouta cut the woman off, his already intense stare growing more and more hardened. "I see." He continued grabbing both Miru's and Naruto's arms purposely walking past the secretary towards the Hokage's office. "Sir I'm serious." The woman called out again, with Ryouta completely ignoring her, pushing open the large wooden doors to the Hokage's office.

The old man behind the large wooden desk raised his head at the loud disturbance, the door loudly banging against the wall. The old man had a kind twinkle in his eyes, as he looked at the three new arrivals. He didn't really mind the interruption seeing as it gave him a break from the mountain of paperwork that had overtaken his desk.

"Ah, Takai-san how may I help you this fine afternoon." The old man put on the kindest grandfatherly smile he could muster, even in the face of someone as imposing as Ryouta he never lost his nerve. "Hokage-sama." Ryouta gave the old man the barest of bows, something that normally would be a sign of disrespect, the Hokage didn't seem to mind in the least however.

"I see you have brought your son, and... Naruto-kun how are you doing?" The old men sent a smile the young blonde boys way. "Is this boy a jinchuriki?" Ryouta said pushing Naruto forward slightly, the old man's smile faltered just a little, before returning to normal. "Naruto, Miru if you could please wait outside." The Hokage gently motioned towards the door, Miru looked surprised that the most important man in the village knew his name.

"Old man whats a gin-jerky?" The young Naruto didn't move from his spot looking up at the Hokage. "I believe if he is indeed a jinchuriki then he deserves to know." Ryouta put a hand on Miru, and Naruto's shoulders, to keep them from leaving, purposely disobeying the Hokage in the process. "I'm afraid that is not your decision." The Hokage's voice got deeper dropping a few decibels, a dangerous glint shining in his normally kind eyes.

"With all due respect Hokage-sama, the boy's chakra is to potent it threatens to tear apart his body." The Hokage raised an eyebrow at this. "Impossible, none of its chakra could possibly be leaking through, the seals much too powerful." The stern gaze of Ryouta caused the Hokage to sigh slightly. "Naruto-kun come over here and raise your shirt please." The Hokage said waving the young boy over to his side.

Naruto did as instructed raising his orange t-shirt over his head, the Hokage's right hand glowing a light green color. Gently he outstretched his hand placing it gently onto Naruto's stomach. Naruto felt a warmth spread across his body, the Hokage hummed to himself before releasing his jutsu. "That's enough Naruto-kun, you can put your shirt back on."

Naruto did as instructed, feeling a little left out of the loop, he walked back over to stand beside Miru. "The seal is still holding, however there is something wrong, I'll make an appointment for Naruto to see a chakra specialist." Ryouta nodded not entirely happy, but willing to accept that the Hokage was willing to get something done. As the trio started to walk out of the room the Hokage called out one more time.

"Takai-san, please stay for a minute." Ryouta allowed the two children to walk out of the Hokage's office, closing the door behind them. "Yes Hokage-sama." Ryouta said bowing a little deeper than before. "I understand that you have reasons for acting the way you do... however I am still the Hokage of this village and if you barge into my office again, spilling village secrets, you won't have enough time to regret it." The Hokage's voice got deadly serious towards the end, Ryouta flinching slightly at the thinly veiled threat, something that was an odd sight.

"I apologize Hokage-sama, it won't happen again." Ryouta bowed once more. "Apology accepted, after all I never told you of Naruto's history seeing as your family was not part of the village when the nine tails attacked, but don't forget what I said." Ryouta started towards the door again. "One question before you go Takai-san." Ryouta stopped again to look at the Hokage. "Do you hate the boy now?" Ryouta took a second to answer. "I'm not so blind that I can't tell the difference between a giant demon, and a little boy with blonde hair." The Hokage seemed satisfied with this answer, the grandfatherly smile returning to his face. "I'm happy that there are still people like you in this village, helps me think its still worth protecting."

As Ryouta walked out of the Hokage's office he noticed both boys standing suspiciously close to the door. "Uh... Takai-san what is a gin-jerky?" Naruto asked again having never got an answer. Ryouta sighed uncharacteristically. "That's something you need to ask the Hokage about." Naruto begrudgingly dropped the topic, but made a mental note to ask the old man about it the next time he saw him.

It was only two days until their first overnight field training exercise and Naruto had yet to get to talk to the Hokage about what was wrong with his chakra. At least not till now, as Naruto awoke a strange black clad figure stood at the foot of his bed, the figure wore a cat mask. Naruto recognized the figure as an Anbu, and remembered having seen this particular Anbu many times over the years.

"Uzumaki-san, the Hokage requests your presence this morning." The figure spoke with a feminine voice, that had just a touch of kindness to it. Naruto was confused having just awoken his thoughts were still hazy, so nodding his head he stretched and got out of bed, throwing on the same clothes he had worn the day before, he followed the figure out of the apartment.

"What did the brat do this time?" Naruto heard this as he walked at first he thought the cat masked woman had said it, but as he looked around he noticed all the people starring at him, not that it was out of the ordinary or anything. Just that he seemed able to hear what they were saying better than usual. He had already realized that when he got his headaches he was hearing peoples thoughts, but this seemed different. All the sound around him was much clearer than I usually was, almost as if his ears had been plugged his whole life and were now clear for the first time.

"Do you think the demon killed somebody?" Naruto picked up another whisper. "I don't know, I guess its possible." He heard the answer as well if he focused he could tell which two women were talking. "Probably, I don't know why they even let the damn thing live." He was even more confused and angry, he had never hurt anybody in his life and yet these people continued to treat him like garbage like he was some kind of criminal who didn't even deserve to live.

"They're the ones who need to die." He muttered the words, not even realizing what he had just said, until a few seconds later. 'No I, don't want to hurt anybody, I just have to show them that I'm not bad.' He desperately thought to himself trying to squash the impulse that had just infiltrated his mind. 'But if I just kill the ones that treat me this way, then everything will be fine.' Naruto quickly brought up his fist smashing into the side of his head, in some kind of barbaric attempt to beat the thoughts out of his head, he struck himself five times before the Anbu restrained him.

"Uzumaki-san are you alright?" The cat masked women said bending down to Naruto's level keeping his arms at his sides. A large angry looking red mark already appearing on the side of his face, no doubt it would bruise. Slowly Naruto calmed himself down, focusing on blocking out the words around him, which was even harder as the people had watched him attacking himself, and as such their whispers had gotten louder. A headache had formed as well, and with it the thoughts were infiltrating his mind as there words penetrated his ears. Naruto's anxiety continued to rise his body shaking, the tremors kept getting worse the cat masked Anbu voicing her concern as Naruto fell to the ground moving sporadically on the ground.

Cat quickly rolled Naruto over onto his side. "He's seizing." she muttered going through a few handseals, her hands started to glow green, she held them up to his head. "How hard did he hit himself?"

End.


	5. Demon

Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 5

Demon

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

When Naruto woke he was staring at the white ceiling of a hospital room, the smell of disinfectant burning his nostrils slightly. "What happened?" He muttered not expecting an answer. "You know Naruto-kun that's what I was going to ask you." Naruto jumped not having noticed the other presence in the room, turning over Naruto caught sight of his visitor. "Old man, why're you here?" Naruto asked trying to sit up, before quickly falling back to the bed, a wave of nausea hitting him like a pound of bricks.

Hanging over the edge of the bed Naruto emptied the contents of his stomach into a bin that the Hokage moved closer to him. "Thanks old man." Naruto forced out as he caught his breath, his retching having stopped. "Its no problem Naruto-kun, how are you feeling?" The old man gave him the kindly smile he was known for.

"I think I'm okay now, my stomach still hurts a little but I'll be fine." The Hokage nodded, a glint of affection shining in his tired eyes, reaching into the pocket of his red Kage robes, he produced a small piece of hard candy that he offered to the boy. "So do you remember what happened?" Naruto shook his head in the negative as he accepted the sweet. "I don't know its all real hazy, when I try to think my head hurts a lot." Naruto said popping the strawberry flavored candy into his mouth.

"The Anbu that was with you said you struck yourself, do you have any idea why you would have done that?" Naruto's expression turned to one of shame, but he shook his head again anyway. "Are you sure?" Naruto continued shaking his head, refusing to speak on the subject. "Well that's alright, I'm sure you will remember soon." The Hokage rose up out of the chair he was seated in, making his way to the door.

"One more thing." The old man stopped with his hand on the door, Naruto still laying in bed turned his head to look at the Hokage's back. "You'll be released in just a little while, when you are please come by my office, there's something we need to do." With that the old man opened the door, walking through it, and closed it behind him.

The Hokage was correct, less than two hours later Naruto was on his way out of the large hospital. Deciding to get something to eat before heading towards the Hokage's office, he made a quick stop by Ichiraku to grab a bowl of ramen. He was relieved that, he was no longer hearing the villagers thoughts, his ears seemed to be back to normal as well, as he was unable to make out what the villagers were whispering to one another.

"Hey Naruto-kun, what can I get you today." Teuchi owner of Ichiraku Ramen, greeted as the young blonde walked up to his small stand. "Miso with pork." Naruto's answer was short and to the point. Teuchi raised an eyebrow at the blondes strange behavior, but letting it slide for now turned around and began making his order. "Dad who's out there?" Naruto heard a small feminine voice, from the stands enclosed storage area.

"Its one of my best customers." Naruto was a little embarrassed, reaching up to rub the back of his head, he was surprised as a young girl just a little older than him rolled out from the dark storage area, She had long dark brown hair, large black eyes, and a rather fair complexion, but most importantly she was in a wheelchair. "Naruto, this is my daughter Ayame... Ayame this is Naruto my best and most loyal customer." Ayame bowed towards Naruto the best she could without standing from her chair.

"Ayame's going to be working here from now on." Naruto remembering his manners bowed back at the slightly older girl. Looking at her a bit closer Naruto could see one of her legs was stuck in a cast. "What happened?" Naruto knew that the question could seem a little personal, but he was curious and decided to ask anyway. Ayame gained a depressed look as she stared down at her cast laden legs.

The atmosphere turned a little awkward, Ayame nodding slightly towards her father who took it as a sign that he could reveal the circumstances behind Ayame's injury. "My daughter, was a genin, up until about a week ago, the chunin exams that they hold every year, she took part, a ninja from another village, cut the tendons in both her legs, and then broke them." Naruto had heard that being a ninja was dangerous, but he had never seen one injured before.

"Can you still be a ninja?" Naruto was curious how injured a ninja would have to be before they were forced into retirement. She shook her head sadly. "The doctors said, I'll never be able to fully control my legs again." Naruto was able to take a hint, and dropped the subject, able to tell how down the older girl was becoming.

Naruto finished his ramen quickly, before heading to the Hokage's mansion. No matter how hard he tried he was unable to get the brown haired girl out of his head. "I'll get strong enough to where things like this won't happen anymore, when I'm Hokage I'll be able to make sure no one gets hurt." The people around stared as he walked by, not the hateful glares that were the norm, but curious glances one would give a person when they would talk to themselves.

Naruto entered the Hokage's mansion and the secretary let him pass without incident, as she informed him that the Hokage had been waiting for him. Entering the large office he was greeted by the smiling face of the Hokage, and the stoic faces of two men he had never met. "Ah Naruto-kun it was nice of you to show up, a few more minutes and I might have sent Cat out to find you." Naruto walked up to the Hokage's desk, as he got close enough the old man bent down and whispered conspiratorially into the young boy's ear. "You know I think she's taken quite a liking to you." A small blush spread across Naruto's cheeks at the way the Hokage said it.

"I apologize Hokage-sama however I have a very busy schedule today, and I would like to be done with this as soon as possible." One of the men, with long straight black hair, and pale pupil less eyes spoke, his tone without emotion, yet somehow still able to express his irritation. "Of course Hiashi, lets get started then." The Hokage said motioning towards Naruto. Said boy was relatively confused, not something that was very strange considering his age, however it still wasn't a feeling he enjoyed.

"Uh.. old man what am I supposed to do?" Naruto voiced his question, the Hokage turned his attention back to the young boy. "Nothing Naruto-kun you just need to stand there." Naruto did as he was told, but he was starting to lose his patience, no one seemed willing to explain what he was there for. Hiashi raised one hand to his face in a half tiger seal, the veins around his eyes bulging, and his glare becoming more intense.

"So Hiashi do you see anything?" The Hokage questioned, the man gestured for him to wait a moment, Hiashi's brow furrowed a look of confusion appearing on his face for just a second. "There does indeed seem to be a problem but its not with the seal." As he spoke Hiashi's eyes returned to normal, the bulging veins sinking back into his face.

"What do you mean?" Hiashi cleared his throat before speaking, shooting a quick glance at the young boy. "There is a strange chakra emanating from the boy, but it is not originating at the seal." The Hokage raised an eyebrow at this revelation. "It's coming from the boy's heart." The Hokage let out a long sigh, rubbing his temple. "I was afraid something like this would happen."

At this moment Naruto was quite fed up with being treated like he wasn't even in the room. "What are you guys talkin' about?" The three men switched their attention back to the young boy. "Don't worry about it Naruto-kun." The Hokage waved him off again, pissing the young boy off even more. "What do you mean you were afraid this would happen?" The other man for the first time, he was a tall man with a darker blonde hair than Naruto's own, pulled back into a long pony-tail going down his back.

"Inoichi can you look and make sure nothing is 'influencing' the boy's mind." Inoichi quickly agreed to the Hokage's request. "Of course Hokage-sama." He placed his hands together in a seal Naruto didn't recognize. "Mind Infiltration Jutsu." Almost immediately Naruto could feel the intrusion, manifesting itself as a splitting headache. The pain was so great Naruto fell to his knees, thoughts and memories that were not his own flooding his young mind.

It ended quickly, with Inoichi gasping for breath and holding his own head. "Inoichi what happened?" The Hokage asked concerned. "I didn't get to see much, he reversed it on me." Inoichi said causing all eyes to once again be drawn to the young boy. The look of shock across Naruto's features explained everything they needed to know. "I... I'm a demon." The words escaped the boy's mouth, the Hokage felt a stinging pain in his chest, as he looked at the hurt and pain on Naruto's young face.

Before the Hokage could stop him the young boy bolted for the door, quickly running through it and disappearing. "Cat, follow him!" The Anbu appeared suddenly, having been hidden in the room, only the Hokage knew where for sure. "Hokage-sama do you know whats going on with the boy?" Inoichi asked honestly curious. "I hadn't thought much of it, back then, but I suppose these would be the side affects."

"Side affects.. of what Hokage-sama?" The old man sighed deeply. "You both know back when the Nine Tails attacked the village, the fourth Hokage sealed the beast inside young Naruto." Inoichi nodded, while Hiashi made a noise to indicate he was listening. "Well one thing I didn't reveal back then, the Hokage couldn't stop the fox before it managed to harm the boy." Both men were paying closer attention now.

"A small amount blood, so little I didn't think anything of it at that point mixed with young Naruto." The men were slightly confused at the Hokage's phrasing. "You mean the foxes blood?" Inoichi sounded taken aback, the Hokage nodding in confirmation. "Yes a small wound on the boy's stomach, the Nine Tails claw had pierced him there, allowing some of the demonic blood of the Nine Tails to mix with Naruto's own, back then I didn't think such a small amount of tainted blood would have any adverse affects." The Hokage let out a breath as he finished talking. "So you think the chakra is hurting him because, his human body is naturally producing demonic chakra." The Hokage affirmed Inoichi's statement. "And who knows what else it might do."

Cat followed close behind the fleeing blond boy, easily keeping pace, with the boys running. She was surprised when he stopped atop the Hokage monument, not many children came to this spot in the village. Actually almost no one in general came far enough up the mountain to sit on the Hokage's heads. Cat supposed that might be the reason, it was one of the only places in the village that was truly quiet, and tranquil.

Anbu were under no circumstances allowed to show emotion while on duty. However watching the young boy sit atop the fourth Hokage's head, tears flowing freely from his eyes hurt her heart a bit. The boy had been her first assignment, over four years ago almost to the day, she became an Anbu, and was immediately assigned to watch over the young boy.

At first she was no different from the rest of the village, the fox had taken much from her, including her older brother, but she always took her job seriously, and protecting the young Jinchuriki was no different. Over time however she watched the boy grow, watched as the conviction to become Hokage implanted itself in his soul. Observed as the boy took on all of the villagers scorn with a kind of innocence and naivety that seemed impossible, though no one was ever willing to give the young boy any kind of support, he never let it stop him, even though he would fall, he would never fail to stand back up again.

So even though at first she had in fact hated the boy for what he contained, now was a different story, now she could honestly say, she held the utmost respect for the innocent young boy before her. "I... I am a demon." She could hear the boy as he spoke to himself, completely oblivious to her presence just behind him. "If I'm a monster, then no matter what I do, I'll never be able to be Hokage... If I can't even do the only thing I promised myself."

The young boy dug around in the pouch strapped around his leg, Cat payed close attention, as Naruto removed a very real, and very sharp kunai knife, from the pouch. "Then there's no point." He raised the knife slowly bringing it up to the side of his small fragile neck, Cat moved quicker than she even thought possible, grabbing the young boy's hand in mid action. Stopping the knife just short of plunging into the young blondes neck.

He struggled reflexively trying his best to release the grasp the older girl had on his wrist, to no avail, Cat was after all a fully trained elite shinobi, and no academy student could hope to overpower her. "Let me go! No one in this village cares about me anyway! Just let me do what I want!" Naruto's grip on the knife loosened and it fell from his hand, tears now flowing even harder from his blue eyes, staining his cheeks.

Cat pulled the young boy close to her chest, embracing his small body, as he continued to let the tears flow. "That's not true, Naruto, I know you, I know you've made friends, and I know how hard you work, even if you say no one cares about you its not true, I know you don't know who I am, but I care, and so does the Hokage, and your classmate Miru, and his family, we all care about you, so as long as its my job to watch over you." Cat drifted off as the young boy slowly calmed, and just a few moments later fell asleep, it was strange to her how easily children could drift to sleep, not that she minded.

Opting to take him back to his apartment instead of to the Hokage's office, she lifted the young boy into her arms, and carefully started the trek back to Naruto's home. Although walking through the door she was reminded how depressing of a home it really was. Setting the boy on his bed, she debated going to report to the Hokage, but decided against it, not wanting to leave the boy by himself after what had happened.

Entering the kitchen, she was disgusted by the sheer amount of filth that covered the boy's living space. Removing the mask from her face, she turned on the kitchen sink waiting for the water to turn hot. Making herself busy in the meantime she began picking up the clothes strewn about the apartment putting them into a pile. While she had never been much of a housekeeper, she guessed she could stand to clean a little, seeing as she wasn't willing to leave until the boy was awake.

Without her Anbu mask, her long purple hair kept falling into her face so to solve the problem she took a small amount of ninja wire and tied it up. It became increasingly obvious that the hot water heater was not working seeing as how she had, had the water running for almost ten minutes, and it was still ice cold to the touch. Rummaging around the apartment it didn't take long for her to find the problem, in a pilot light that had went out.

Lighting it, she went about picking up more as she waited for the water heater to fill. Naruto didn't awaken for almost three hours, and when he did, the sight that greeted him was not one that he had expected, It had been a long time since he had woken to a clean house and the smell of bleach, that was for sure, but never once had he awoken to a girl in his apartment, no less being the one that was cleaning.

He jumped out of bed quickly, memories from earlier that day absent from his tired mind. "Who are you!" He yelled in the most threatening voice he could muster, it did little more than cause the purple haired Anbu to laugh. "I'm... I guess you could call me your guardian angel." She meant it as a joke, though Naruto didn't think it was funny. "I'm serious, I'm a deadly ninja, you don't wanta mess with me." The Anbu laughed a little more at Naruto's bravado, glad to see he was in a better mood than earlier.

"I'm serious too, Hokage's orders, my job is to follow you around, and make sure nothing bad happens to you, though I'm supposed to keep my mask on, so we'll just keep this our secret okay." Naruto couldn't do much more than nod his head. "Mask.. wait you mean you're?" Naruto trailed off a bit, with the purple haired women nodding her head. "Yep an Anbu, but like I said, I really am not supposed to tell you that." Naruto nodded, though it seemed at that moment, the memories from earlier resurfaced into his mind.

"Did the Hokage tell you to follow me, because I'm a demon?" The Anbu's face fell as Naruto uttered the question. "Naruto you're not a demon." The Anbu said trying her best to get through to the small child. "Don't lie! I saw it, in that other guys head, I am the Nine Tailed Fox, I could feel all the hatred they have for me, it was clear as day, It was in me the hatred I couldn't shake it, and then I." The Anbu reached forward putting one of her hands on the young blonde's shoulder. "You're not a demon." Naruto opened his mouth to argue again. "Just listen to me." The Anbu cut him off.

"It's true the Nine Tailed Fox is a part of you, I won't lie about that, but you aren't the same as that thing." Naruto cast his gaze at the floor, not really paying attention to what the Anbu was saying. Gently she reached over and grabbed his head turning it to look at her. "Listen, please." Naruto tried to lower his gaze again, but nodded in acceptance.

"Okay now, the story that the academy teaches you, about how the forth Hokage defeated the Nine Tailed Fox, and saved the village, I'm sure you've heard it." Naruto made a noise to acknowledge that he had in fact heard the story, honestly Naruto doubted that there was anyone who hadn't. "Well, some of that may have been, just a little bit, of a lie." Naruto had expected this, the thoughts he had accidentally seen inside the blonde mans head, had already told him as much.

"You see the Nine Tailed Fox, is a being that we call, a Biju, it is a being of almost unlimited power, a nation of ninja would likely not have the power to destroy such a creature, let alone one man, no matter how powerful they were." As Naruto listened his mind had already started jumping to conclusions. "Yeah I already knew that much, that's why the forth Hokage wiped my memory and trapped me in the form of a child." The Anbu looked at Naruto quizzically, before letting a laugh slip from her feminine lips.

"Well I supposed that was a decent guess, but you're wrong, by the way." Naruto crossed his arms glaring at the purple haired lady, in a way the Anbu thought was actually quite adorable. "You see it just so happened that this same day, a very special, amazing prodigy of a ninja was born." She tried to spice the story up a bit so as not to lose Naruto's attention.

"You see after an epic battle with this monstrous beast, the Hokage realized something, no matter what he did the creature would just shake off any damage." The Anbu told the story as though it were an epic fairy tale, one you would tell a child, mostly because that's exactly what she was doing. "So in a last ditch effort, the Hokage scoured the torn village, finding the one ninja that would be capable, of holding the immense power that the beast contained." The Anbu stopped to clear her throat before continuing.

"Eventually he found him, in the form of a small child less than an hour old, you see the power that this child, this amazing child held, was so great that as soon as the Hokage laid his eyes upon him, he knew, that this child." Naruto had forgotten himself so focused on the story, that he had almost completely forgotten why they were even talking about it.

"This child, would grow up to be a hero, a hero so great that even the most powerful of enemies could not stand in his way, a hero so full of light even the deepest of darkness could not hope to turn him from the path of justice." The Anbu paused again trying to think of how to continue the story. "You see as the Hokage gazed upon the small newborns face, he could see everything that child would one day be capable of, so in order to save the village that he loved so dearly, he used the last bit of his life, to contain the creature inside this child."

"You see Naruto, the Hokage would have never placed a burden like this on someone that he wasn't positive would be strong to contain it, this child, in case you haven't figured it out at this point, was you Naruto, you see, you're not some demon to be despised, you're a hero, that was chosen by the strongest Hokage, to protect this village, as long as the Nine Tailed Fox resides in you, there is no way for it to harm anyone again." Naruto hesitantly nodded, unsure how to feel at this point. Though to be honest there was a small amount of shame, shame at what he had tried to do earlier that day.

One little hiccup in his plan to be Hokage, and he was more than willing to give up, and now that he knew how much faith the fourth Hokage had placed in him, his will to become the greatest Hokage that ever lived was all that much stronger. "Is everything you said the truth?" Young Naruto questioned his eyes glazed over slightly. "Of course, I have never lied about something this important in my life, and I'm not about to start now." Naruto didn't mean for it to happen, and actually didn't notice when it started, however slowly but surely, tears began to fall from his eyes.

Cat grasped Naruto by the shoulders, embracing him for the second time that day. The front of her Anbu uniform quickly became soaked from the boy's tears, but she didn't mind. She had never really thought of herself as the kind of person that was good with kids, this one however she had grown attached to. Naruto calmed down not long after, wiping the residual tears from his deep blue eyes. "I've decided." He spoke quietly, to the point where Cat had to strain her ears to hear it.

"From this moment on I'm not gonna cry anymore, I'm gonna get stronger, so strong that no one can stand in my way, so strong that this village will have to accept me as their Hokage, so strong that even a demon can't beat me." The determination in Naruto's eyes made Cat believe that not only could Naruto accomplish what he said, but that he would accomplish it.

"Good I'll be looking forward to seeing it." Cat stood up from the spot where she was kneeling on the floor. Walking over to the kitchen sink she picked up her mask and placed it back on her head, covering up her feminine looks, though her purple hair was still visible. "What's your name?" Naruto asked realizing that he had yet to ask such an important question.

The women thought about it for a second, before deciding that it couldn't hurt. "I'm Yugao, Yugao Uzuki, its nice to finally meet you Naruto Uzumaki." With that she left, propelling herself through an open window and onto the rooftops of Konoha. Naruto sat in his apartment for awhile after that thinking over everything he had learned that day. "I'm not a demon." He spoke with the same determination, his gaze unflinching as he stared out over the village.

End

Please read and review.


	6. The Day Before

Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 6

The Day Before

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

Ryouta stood inside the Hokage's office, listening as the old man explained what he thought was causing the pain when Naruto tried to use chakra. "I see, so this demonic blood infected his chakra network." Ryouta said starting to understand what was going on. "Yes at least that's what I believe." The Hokage said rubbing his temples. "Do you think it's permanent." Ryouta asked walking closer to the Hokage's desk. "No I don't, Personally I'm thinking that once his body adapts to the potency of the chakra, he'll be able to use the same as any other ninja."

"Are you going to tell him?" Ryouta's had a tone to his voice, that the Hokage quickly identified, as him believing it to be the best decision. "I'm not sure yet, Cat barely managed to convince him he wasn't a demon, I am not sure telling him, that he might be is the best course of action." The disappointment that crossed Ryouta's face was hard to miss, but the Hokage was to stressed and tired to care what the Jounin thought of him.

"If there are side effects, other than the chakra problem." Ryouta continued to push. "Naruto now knows of the Nine Tails, anything that shows up could easily be explained as a by product of its influence." The Hokage waved him off. "I apologize Hokage-sama, however I still believe that Naruto should be told that he is part demon." Ryouta voice began getting louder, but quickly returned to its normal octave, when the Hokage shot him one of his patented death glares. "And I believe that you believe that, unfortunately this is not your decision, it is mine, now please leave, I have an appointment that I mustn't be late for." The Hokage rose from his chair escorting Ryouta out himself, before locking his office door, and leaving as well.

Meanwhile Naruto was once again, stuck in the infinite hell that seemed to be ninja academy. Since learning of his condition, he had begun to accept, that it must be the reason for his newly found mind reading capabilities, something that he was currently focusing on trying to activate. He had realized the night before that if he concentrated hard enough, he could begin to hear the voices, that were in his neighbors heads. Unfortunately the headache that accompanied this new ability, showed no sign of disappearing anytime soon.

He had also found that when the ability had activated itself, the thoughts of others were quite clear, but when he tried to force it, he was lucky if he got a few words here and there. The most he could drag from his neighbors head was the word 'youth.' Sighing he looked down at the paper in front of him, he cursed whoever thought up the idea of written tests, which brought him back to his current predicament. He had quickly ascertained that he knew almost none of the answers to the questions in front of him, which was the reason he was straining his mind to hear his classmates thoughts.

He was forced to give up hope of cheating when the headache became to much to handle, so he resigned himself to answering the questions to the best of his abilities. Time ran out rather quickly with Iruka calling for them to put down their pencils. As Naruto had thought, most of the answers had indeed eluded his grasp. He was brought from his thought's when he heard his only friend ask Iruka a rather strange question.

"Iruka-sensei 'cough' can kekkai genkai, be transferred, 'cough' from one ninja to another." Iruka looked rather confused at the sudden question. "What brought this on?" Iruka asked thinking the question over. "Just 'cough' curious." Miru put on his best angelic expression. "Well yes it is possible, though a person with a false kekkai genkai typically is unable to use it to the extent as someone who is born with one." Iruka answered, never having been one to deny a childs curiosity, after all what kind of teacher would he be if he did.

"How?" Iruka was starting to get a little suspicious, but saw no harm in humoring the young boy, he would just ask the Hokage later, if he knew what could have brought on this line of questioning. "Well it's different depending on the type, such as doujutsu which have been known to work just by transferring an eye from one person to another, other than that, the only kept on record, would be those that were the product of a blood transfusion."

"Thanks sensei, 'cough' um is there anyone in the village like that." Iruka stroked his chin for a minute thinking, though only one case came to mind. "Well one, a man with the sharingan, transplanted into his eye." Sasuke looked up at the mention of the word, Naruto was confused in general, he wasn't even sure what a kekkai genkai was.

"What about 'cough' the other thing you said." Iruka sighed running a hand through his brown hair. "Since the invention of the Zanketsugan, blood transfusions are rarely needed, so a case of a kekkai genkai being transferred that way, hasn't been seen in a long time." Miru seemed satisfied, his curiosity sated. "That's all I wanted to know 'cough' thanks again sensei." Iruka accepted Miru's thanks and began his lesson's again.

Naruto zoned out for the rest of class, something that he kept trying to stop doing, but something about Iruka's voice was so boring that he couldn't help falling asleep, or otherwise preoccupying himself. "Remember class, the field trip is tomorrow, pack for an overnight mission, if you can't remember everything I have lists of the things you'll need to bring." With those words the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day.

"Hey Naruto, 'cough' do you want to train some more today?" Naruto felt a shiver run down his spine as he remembered the pain of the chakra running through his body. "No I think I'm gonna wait and talk to the old man again before I do that." Miru nodded in understanding. "But we could go get some ramen again." Naruto threw the idea out there, even though he wasn't all that hungry at the moment, he figured it was still something to do.

"Sure 'cough' though I need to go water my garden first." Miru said almost apologetically. "That's cool I'll go with you." A smile crept onto Naruto's face, he couldn't help it he was still unused to having a friend, so to him going anywhere would be fine. Naruto's smile must have been contagious because it spread to cover Miru's face well.

Naruto's smile didn't last forever, as less than an hour later he was reminded why he hated the dense forests surrounding the village. Once again Naruto and Miru were trekking through the thick underbrush on their way to Miru's garden, and likewise once again, Naruto found himself covered head to toe in the sticky sweat that only seemed to appear when he entered a forest. Naruto rapidly wiped at his eyes as some of the salty liquid blinded him temporarily.

"Thank Kami, I thought I wasn't gonna make it this time!" Naruto called loudly as he let himself fall onto his back in the large clearing, Miru just laughed at his friend. "C'mon Naruto 'cough' its not that bad." Naruto just stared at his friend like he was crazy, before slowly pushing himself to sit up in the tall grass. "How can you stand it in there?" Miru laughed his soft laugh again. "Just used to it I guess, I've 'cough' been caring for this garden for awhile 'cough' now."

"Hey Miru?" Naruto called to get his friends attention. "Yeah 'cough' Naruto?" Miru replied turning his head to look at him as he watered the plants. Similarly to before he had a small amount of water in a bag that he had brought with him. "Are you dying?" Miru found himself choking on air as Naruto's question hit his ears.

"W-what the heck?" Miru turned to his friend his eyes widened a bit. "Well it's just, I've never heard you, y'know, get through a whole sentence, without coughing up a log." Miru stared at his friend a little longer. "You mean a lung?" Naruto had a look of confusion pass over his face, before embarrassment took its place. "You knew what I meant." Miru laughed again, something he was doing a lot lately.

"It's a summer 'cough' cold Naruto, its not like 'cough' I been like this my whole life, I just get sick a little more 'cough' often than other people." Naruto nodded sagely. "Yeah, that makes sense, I thought it was weird, y'know, that you were always sick, though its fall y'know." Miru continued to look at his friend. "Wait 'cough' did you really think I 'cough' was dying, just because 'cough' I was coughing a lot." Naruto had a bit of a sheepish look on his face as he rubbed the back of his head.

"But if I ever did die, would you 'cough' take care of this place for me?" Naruto was a bit taken aback by the question on account of the fact that he had just established that his friend wasn't dying. "I mean my mom spent so much 'cough' time helping me get the soil, and the fertilizer, 'cough' and everything else, I wouldn't 'cough' feel right, if it all just disappeared." Miru had such a serious look on his face, that Naruto wouldn't have been able to say no even had he wanted to.

"Of course! I swear on my honor as Hokage of Konoha, if you die, then I will walk through this hellish forest every day and make sure that this garden stays exactly as it is, Dattebayo!" Naruto felt his face heat up as the word slipped out. "Really 'cough' Naruto there's nothing wrong with it, 'cough' especially if you can't control it." Naruto immediately felt a little more comfortable with his verbal tick, as Miru's words reached his ears.

"Anyway I'm starvin' lets go eat." Naruto said hopping to his feet, his energy having returned in the small amount of time he had rested. "Right." Miru agreed as he put the empty water container back into his pack. On the way back Naruto couldn't help but notice that the forest's humidity didn't bother him nearly as much. In fact he was sure that the trip back to the village had gone much faster, than the trip to the forest in the first place.

"Ah, Naruto good to see you as always." Teuchi greeted one of his best customers, with his trademark wave and kind smile. "And your friend as well of course." Miru nodded towards the man instead of speaking. "Hey old man, just let me have my regular!" Naruto greeted back in usual fashion as well, his loud voice echoing through the small stand. "I'll have 'cough' the same as Naruto." Miru said in a much more reserved manner. "Right." Teuchi nodded turning around to begin cooking.

"Ayame! We have customers!" At her dad's exclamation, the girl rolled out of the back room, still confined to her wheelchair. She smiled just a little when Naruto happily waved to her, waving back slightly without raising her arm. She parked her wheelchair next to her father, and began helping her father, handing him different things that he would ask for, and listening as he taught her the basics of cooking ramen.

Naruto payed attention as the girl struggled to maneuver her chair around the cramped shop space, trying his best to memorize it. Knowing that as a ninja the same thing could happen to him some day. He felt that by committing to memory the sight before him, it would help him to be careful someday when he was on missions and such.

"Hey Ayame-chan?" Naruto tried starting a conversation, with the girl turning her head toward him slightly to show that she was listening. "How long?" Ayame turned towards him a confused look on her face. "How long for what?" She asked tilting her head to the side. "Till, y'know, you can walk again." He explained himself, he regretted it as the pretty smile that adorned the girls face fell.

"Sorry... you don't haveta answer if you don't want to." Naruto said waving his hands quickly in front of his face as the girls eyes turned glossy as though she were about to cry. "The doctor said it would probably be about three months." Teuchi answered for her, carrying the two bowls of ramen over to the boys and setting them in front of Naruto and Miru respectively.

"That's how long it'll take for the muscles to heal enough for her to start strengthening them again." Naruto continued to look at the girl, while she was a little older than him, he could wholly admit he thought she was very pretty. "I thought ninja could heal stuff like that super fast or something." Naruto said, it wasn't a question more of a statement, Even so Teuchi answered him. "Normally yeah, but she's been forced to retire, so I had to take her to the civilian hospital, the most the medic ninja would do was close the basic wounds."

Naruto didn't know much about the differences between the civilian side and the shinobi side of Konoha, but he did know that something about that didn't sound right. "Did you talk to the old man?" Teuchi shook his head no. "He doesn't have time for things like this." Was all Teuchi said, and Naruto got the feeling he should drop the subject.

After they finished their meals the two said their goodbyes to Teuchi and Ayame. Walking home a thought occurred to Naruto. "Hey Miru, you know a lot about medicine right?" Miru wasn't sure where Naruto was going with this, but decided to answer his friend. "I wouldn't say I know a lot, but I know more than some people." Naruto made a humming noise in the back of his throat.

"So is there some kind of medicine that we can make with your plants, to help Ayame's legs?" Understanding dawned on Miru's face. "Oh.." The child thought about it for a minute as the two continued their walk. "I might be able to, I'll ask 'cough' my mom when I get home." Naruto stopped walking for a minute. "Your mom?" He questioned.

"Yeah 'cough' my mom used to be a medic ninja, back when 'cough' we lived in the land of water." Naruto nodded, starting to walk again. "I guess that makes sense you did say she was the one who helped make your garden." Miru smiled as he thought about it. "Yeah she 'cough' always supported me when I said I didn't want to be a ninja, but dad 'cough' always got mad about it." Naruto noticed how Miru's voice seemed more distant when he talked about his father. "Y'know your dads cool and all, but I think you should do what you wanna do."

"I wish it was 'cough' that easy." Miru said a little downtrodden, noticing this Naruto tried to think of something to say. "I think if you really don't wanna be a ninja, then don't, but I also think, that your dad sees how strong you are, and that's why he doesn't like it when you tell him you don't wanna do it." Naruto said the first thing that came to mind.

"But I'm 'cough' not strong, not at all." Miru said, Naruto grit his teeth trying to keep his anger down, if there was one thing that bothered him, it was when people put themselves down. "I think you are." Naruto finally said, letting out a slow breath. "You're wrong, everything my 'cough' dad tries to teach me 'cough' I can't do it."

"Maybe, but I think that someone who's weak wouldn't try to learn in the first place." Naruto said in a slightly tensed tone. "The only thing 'cough' I'm good at is growing plants." Naruto was starting to get pissed, so before he did something he didn't want to he changed the subject. "That's why I want you to help Ayame, after all three months is a long time to be stuck in a chair."

"I'll ask my mom tonight, 'cough' don't worry." Miru said smiling only slightly. The rest of the walk to Miru's house was in silence, neither really having anything they wanted to say. "Hey Miru, do you know exactly what we are supposed to bring tomorrow?" Naruto asked as he suddenly remembered the training mission that was set for the next day.

"Just like a bedroll, 'cough' canteen. um... Iruka-sensei said he would bring rations, 'cough' so just things like flint and, 'cough' regular ninja gear." Naruto nodded trying to memorize everything Miru was saying. "I don't have a bedroll." He said as he thought about it. "I might 'cough' have an extra, I'll ask 'cough' my mom." Miru said as they walked up to the door to his house.

Inviting Naruto in, they both switched into slippers in the doorway, as Miru announced their arrival. "Mom, 'cough' I'm home, Naruto's here to!" He yelled as the both stepped into the main sitting area. "Welcome home, sweety, and Naruto-chan to." She said walking into view, hands clasped in front of the apron she was wearing.

"Are you staying for dinner." She asked Naruto, bowing slightly in greeting. "Um... I don't think so, not tonight." Mitsuko frowned just a little. "That's too bad." The pout on the older woman's face almost made Naruto change his mind. "Mom, do we have an extra 'cough' bedroll, that Naruto can borrow?" Miru asked his mother, causing a look of interest to cross her features.

"That's right you two have your first training mission tomorrow." She said clapping her hands together happily as she remembered. "I think we actually might have an extra around here somewhere." She said as she escorted the two towards Miru's room. "Now you wait in here and I'll see if I can't find it, alright," Naruto nodded as he took a seat at the table in the middle of Miru's floor.

It was only a few moments later that she returned, a rolled sleeping bag in her arms. "I found an old canteen to, if you need one." She handed Naruto the items, Naruto accepting the canteen as well. "Thank you Takai-san." He said standing and bowing towards her, causing her to giggle just a bit. "You really do have quite the well mannered friend." She said to her son, before escorting Naruto to the front door.

"Naruto-chan are you sure you don't want to have dinner with us?" Mitsuko asked again the same sweet motherly smile, adorning her soft features. "Sorry, but really I should get home, haveta get ready for tomorrow and all that." He said giving a final bow before changing back into his shoes and leaving through the door. "Alright, but anytime you want to you can come over for dinner, okay." She said as she waved at him, him waving back as he started to walk away.

Naruto made good time on his way home, and as he walked through his door, he was only slightly surprised at the purple haired Anbu that was seated on his broken down couch. "Naruto your home awfully late." She joked as he walked in. "Don't you follow me around all day?" Naruto pointed out, to the woman, who was still wearing her cat mask.

"When you say it like that I sound like a stalker." She teased as he sat on the couch beside her. "So why are you here?" Naruto asked, as the women threw an arm around his shoulders. "Well you already know that my mission is to guard you, so there's no point in skulking around in the shadows." She said as Naruto shook the arm off his shoulders.

"I thought that's what Anbu did?" Naruto questioned, Yugao rolled her eyes. "Well yes, but that doesn't mean I enjoy it, I can protect you just as well from this couch, besides tomorrow's my first day off in a long time." Naruto looked confused for a moment, so she decided to elaborate. "I'm not following you on your practice mission tomorrow, so your going to be on your own." Naruto nodded in understanding.

"So anyway, I'll make dinner." She changed the subject. "Really?" Yugao nodded, and while Naruto wasn't particularly hungry, he wasn't about to turn it down. "It'll only take a little while." She got up from the couch and made her way into the kitchen, in the meantime Naruto made his way around his apartment packing everything he would need for the next day.

"Dinners ready!" Yugao called out, Naruto who had just finished taking a shower using his now working hot water. Walking into the kitchen Naruto was shocked at the amount of food the woman had actually made. "Uh... wow." Was all he could say, causing Yugao to giggle girlishly. "Well we might as well eat, after all don't want it to get cold." Naruto nodded eagerly, his stomach growling slightly, showing he was hungrier than he thought he was.

"Itadakimasu." He called as he started eating, Yugao staring for just a moment before she too joined in. Dinner was a silent affair, Naruto was unsure what to talk about seeing as he barely knew the woman in front of him. While Yugao preferred to eat in silence, leading to a not quite uncomfortable, but also not quite comfortable atmosphere.

"I really should get to sleep." Naruto said a little while after the two had finished eating. "Yes you're probably right, you do have a big day tomorrow after all." Yugao agreed as she sat back on the couch. "Are you staying here?" Naruto asked as Yugao laid on the couch, stretching out her body. "Yeah, I might as well, I usually stay outside on a roof next door." She said closing her eyes, deciding to just accept it Naruto went to his room where he quickly passed out.

The next morning came quickly, as Naruto awoke to the sound of someone calling his name. "Naruto I made breakfast!" Yugao called from her place next to his bedroom door. Lazily he turned and twisted in his bed effectively tangling himself into his blanket. "I'm stuck." He said flailing helplessly, his small body getting more and more wrapped up.

Eventually wrenching himself free from the mass of fabric, he turned to glare at the giggling purple haired woman. "You could have helped." He muttered. "Yeah, but I believe in letting people fight their own battles." She said turning to walk out of the room, Naruto's glare intensifying at her back. Breakfast was a rather simple affair, though it was strange having company, this early in the morning he wouldn't say it was a bad feeling.

After a quick goodbye to Yugao Naruto left on his way to the academy, he couldn't help but be excited, after all this would be the first time he spend a night outside the village. Though he supposed that it wasn't going to be far outside the village, but all the same it was quite thrilling for him. "Iruka hasn't said much about this, I wonder what it is that we're supposed to do." He wondered aloud, making it to the academy rather quickly he took his normal seat.

As he waited for Iruka to arrive he busied himself by talking with Miru, not about anything in particular, just whatever came to mind. "Okay class before we get going, I need you each to come up to my desk and draw a piece of paper from this basket." He said pulling said basket out from behind his desk. So one by one the children lined up each taking a small slip of paper before heading back to their desks.

"Good now find whoever has the same numbered paper as you, that will be your squad for this mission."

End.

A/N: That's another chapter down, some actions coming soon, before that though please read and review it's the only way I know if people are enjoying this story.


	7. Fishing, Shogi, And Friends

Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 7

Fishing, Shogi, And Friends.

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

Naruto looked at the small piece of parchment in his hand, with the large number four printed on it. He sat quietly in his seat, as the other children went around finding ou who their squad mates were. There was only one person in class he truly wished to be on a team with and he knew with his luck that it wouldn't happen. "Hey Naruto, what's 'cough' yours say?" The white haired boy next to him asked, fiddling with the white strip of paper he had in his grasp.

Naruto flashed Miru his own paper, as much as he was looking forward to this, he knew that most of his classmates didn't like him, and as such he was afraid of who he would be stuck with for the night. "That's 'cough' great!" Miru said excitedly, catching Naruto's attention and showing him his own paper with the large four imprinted on to it.

Just like that, all of the worries that were plaguing Naruto's mind vanished. "Really, no way." He was astonished, what were the chances that out of everyone in the class, Naruto would be put with his only friend. "Yeah 'cough' I was surprised too." Miru smiled happily, but it didn't take long for the both of them to notice that everyone else in the class had split into groups of three.

A moment later Iruka called out to the class. "Who doesn't have a paper?" In his hand was a small white piece of parchment with the number four on it. Everyone began looking trying to find the student who hadn't went and grabbed pulled a number. Eventually everyone's attention was drawn to a boy sleeping at his desk.

Naruto immediately recognized him as the boy from the previous week, the one he had mistakenly thanked back when he was unaware of his strange mind reading abilities. "Hey Shika, get up man." The chubby boy next to him gently nudged the boy, trying to awaken him. Stretching his arms above his head, the boy lazily shifted his glance around the room.

"What's up?" He said with a yawn noticing all the people around him staring. "Shikamaru, would you kindly come and pick up your paper slip." Iruka said waving the parchment in the air. "What a drag." He muttered slogging out of his chair and up to the front of the room. Taking the paper from Iruka, he looked at it for a moment.

"Who else is number four?" Shikamaru asked lethargically waving the paper above his head. Slowly Naruto raised his hand above his head, to which Shikamaru sighed, before lazily making his way to the back ot the classroom, and sitting himself next to the blonde. Almost immediately afterwords he put his head down on the desk and began snoring again.

"For the next hour we are going to go over what this training exercise will entail." Iruka spoke as he began to hand out sheets of paper to his students. "Each team will have their own objective, different from the other's." Passing out the last of the papers he walked back to his desk. "There is also a group objective that everyone shares."

A brown haired boy in the front row raised his hand. "Yes Kiba what is it?" Iruka called out the boy's name allowing him to ask his question. "Is it like some kind of competition?" The boy had a hungry glint in his eye, the prospect of showing up his classmates exciting him. Iruka sighed, 'just what I'd expect of an Inuzuka, always ready for a challenge.' He thought to himself.

"Yes I suppose you could say that." Iruka answered. "The first team to complete their mission and return to the village will get to choose their sparring partners for the next two months." Naruto looked up at this, it was a chance to ensure he would get a rematch against Sasuke. Kiba seemed interested as well flashing a rather feral grin at Iruka.

"Okay as I was saying the main objective, is to successfully make it to a predetermined point in the forest surrounding Konoha by nightfall." Iruka pulled a large rolled piece of parchment out from behind his desk. Unfurling it he placed the large sheet up on the board using magnets to keep it suspended. "This is a map of Konoha and its surrounding forests." He said pointing to it with a long stick that he kept for just such occasions.

"As you can see I have taken the liberty of circling specific points on the map." Iruka said pointing to said locations. "Each of these points is a campsite, the teams will get a map and a compass, to travel to one of these points." Iruka pulled the objects out of his desk as well. "That is the same for every team, at each campsite is a scroll containing your teams second objective."

The hour passed quickly enough, seeing as how Shikamaru was asleep, Naruto made sure to pay attention to everything Iruka had said, so he could inform the lazy boy later. Of course Miru had done the same. Currently the entirety of the class was traveling towards the villages outskirts maps and compasses in hand. Naruto decided to let Miru handle the map seeing as how he wasn't exactly sure how to read one.

Shikamaru on the other hand, had asked to be in charge of the compass, saying something along the lines of 'it would be troublesome to get lost in the woods.' Which left Naruto in charge of trail marking to ensure they could find their way back. Naruto didn't mind all he really had to do was break a twig every thirty or so feet to show the path they took.

Naruto was hoping that the section of forest they would be traveling wouldn't be as thick and humid as the ones near the training ground, unfortunately it seemed luck was not on his side. Bugs attacked them constantly a steady film of sweat had accumulated over his body, and he was pretty sure he was hearing things. The undergrowth was so thick in some places that the children had to circle around, and they began to realize why getting to the campsite before dark was such a serious thing to Iruka.

It was only about twenty miles, according to the map anyway, which wasn't too bad considering the forest stretched one hundred and fifty miles in each direction all around the village. Except for a small path leading to the village gates, which wasn't anywhere near where they were currently. Naruto let out a sigh wiping some of the sweat from his forehead to keep it from dripping into his eyes. "How much farther we gotta go?" He asked to his teammates, he didn't care who answered.

Shikamaru let out a long drawn out sigh. "At the rate we're going, we've still got probably eighteen miles, this is such a drag, I wish my mom would have let me stay home." Shikamaru said looking up into the tree canopy while rubbing the back off his neck. As though the movement, was a chore in itself.

"Can't even see the clouds from in here." Naruto decided to ignore most of what Shikamaru said, hearing him complain just seemed to make it harder to keep moving. "We've been in here for almost two hours, how can we still have that far to go?" Naruto was just speaking to the air at this point, that didn't stop Miru from commenting however. "It's because we keep having to change paths, we've probably already spent an hour just finding our way around."

Miru stared a bit harder at the map in his hands. "Besides this map doesn't show much, I can barely tell where we're at." Naruto didn't like the sound of that. "Wait you don't mean we're lost do you?" Miru shook his head in the negative. "No, just can't be sure where we're at." That sounded an awful lot like being lost to Naruto, but he knew if he had the map instead they would have been lucky to even have gotten this far.

"I knew I shouldn't have shown up today, this is already more trouble than its worth." Naruto couldn't help but think Shikamaru was probably the laziest most unmotivated kid he'd ever known. "It's okay man we'll get there." Naruto tried to sound reassuring. "I'm not worried." Shikamaru said yawning slightly, something he did an unusual amount of. "The academy's probably got eyes all over this forest, even if we got lost, they'd find us within the hour."

"Besides that Iruka-sensei gave us this just in case." Shikamaru reached into his pocket pulling out a small vial of liquid. "Oh yeah, what is that anyway?" Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Don't you ever pay attention in class, its a liquid smoke agent, all we gotta do is bust it and a cloud of red smoke'll draw the academy teachers right to us."

"Your one to talk about listening in class, all you do is sleep!" Naruto unintentionally rose his voice, Shikamaru didn't pay it any mind however, just shrugging his shoulders and dropping the vial back into his pocket. Another hour passed before the three decided to sit down and eat lunch. "Hey do you guys think anyone's made it to their camp yet." Miru asked taking a bite of the dried food bar in his hand, almost gagging at the taste and texture.

"I doubt it, after all the forest is like this everywhere." Shikamaru answered taking a swig from his water canteen to wash the same taste from his own mouth. "What is it with this stuff." Naruto said forcing himself to bite into the bar again. "It's like eating a dog crap flavored rock." As the other two processed that, Naruto cried out in pain.

"What's wrong Naruto?" Miru asked, Naruto who was holding a hand over his mouth didn't answer immediately instead throwing the bar on the ground. Shikamaru just watched on a look of mild interest, on his face, though it was quickly overshadowed by the normal look of boredom he always seemed to wear. "I broke a damn tooth." Naruto muttered, and sure enough spit out a few fragmented pieces of said tooth, into the palm of his hand.

"Man Iruka's full of it, there's no way that ninja eat this junk on a daily basis." Naruto dug through his pack getting all of his ration bars and tossing them into the woods. "Uh... Naruto I don't think that's a great idea, I mean what will you eat." Miru's concern was touching, but Naruto really didn't care that much at the moment. "You heard Shikamaru, the academy teachers could be here in minutes, if they wanted to, I doubt I'm about to starve."

Miru didn't feel like arguing, besides if worse came to worse, his dad had taught him how to fish awhile back, and by looking at the map he could tell that a river ran right by where they were headed. Shikamaru began rummaging through his bag, pulling out a box with an odd checkered pattern on it. "You guys know how to play shogi?" He asked opening the box to reveal a board and pieces.

"How to play what now?" Naruto looked confused, but Miru informed him that he did in fact know how to play. "I'll play you 'cough' but I'm not very good." Miru said moving over to sit opposite the lazy boy. "That's fine, just something to pass time." Naruto was surprised he figured that the only thing Shikamaru did to pass time was sleep, being that's almost all he'd ever seen him do.

Naruto had never felt so dumb, as he did watching the two play the board game. It didn't last long, Shikamaru the clear victor. Naruto was just shocked that anyone could even remember which piece could move which way. Against his better judgement, Naruto decided to speak up. "I'll give it a shot, how hard could it be."

Shikamaru hadn't expected to spend almost an hour teaching someone how to play shogi. He also hadn't expected the blonde to learn so quickly, while he did constantly ask which piece did what, he began to last much longer than Miru had. "I promote my bishop." Shikamaru said, moving said piece to the furthest side of the board away from him.

Naruto groaned, Miru's match had been so quick he hadn't even known half of what to expect, promotions being one of them. Two moves later and Naruto had lost once again. "We should get going, Shikamaru said beginning to put up the board. "Wait once more, I think I've got it now." Shikamaru didn't really mind playing another match, but he also knew that it was almost noon, and they would be lucky to arrive before dark already.

"So troublesome, I'll play you again after we get to camp." Naruto wanted to argue, but didn't want to force the kid, after all if he played his cards right, he might just have another friend when all is said and done. "Fine." Naruto huffed, he had a problem with losing, and knew he wouldn't be able to relax until after he had beaten the lazy boy.

The walk resumed, the later it got the more humid the woods became, and the further they traveled the thicker they became. Naruto began to wonder if there was some kind of connection between the two. "It's been five hours, we've gotta be close." Naruto whined dragging his feet, his head down and shoulders slumped.

"We are 'cough' it's only about thirty more minutes I'd guess." A sudden noise put both Miru and Shikamaru on guard, Iruka had after all warned them of beasts that roamed through the thicker parts of the forest. It was one of Konoha's natural defenses to invading armies. "Ow, that hurt." Naruto groaned causing the other two boys to turn around.

There lying face first on the forest floor was Naruto, his foot tangled in weeds. "That's what happens when you don't 'cough' lift your legs." Miru chastised jokingly, Naruto looked up at his friend spitting a leave out of his mouth. "I hate nature." He said seriously trying to get his foot released from the plants iron grip.

Sighing Shikamaru grabbed a kunai from his pouch and cut the weeds wrapped around Naruto's ankle, afterwords Miru helping him to his feet. "Thanks guys." Naruto brushed the dirt and debris from his clothes. "No problem." Shikamaru said turning to continue walking. "C'mon 'cough' we're just about there." Miru followed after Shikamaru, leaving Naruto to trudge along behind again, though this time he watched where he was stepping more carefully.

Miru wasn't lying, and just a little over thirty minutes later they entered a small clearing. The only thing that showed it was the place they should be was an old fire pit in the center. "Its kinda barren." Naruto said looking around the clearing, he spotted the scroll they were looking for just sitting on an old stump next to said fire pit.

"I think that's the point." Shikamaru said, already he was dreading having to set up the camp. "It shouldn't take to long 'cough' to get everything ready." Miru said pulling out a small rolled scroll from his bag. "What's that?" Naruto asked as Miru unrolled it and placed his hands on top. "It's called a storage scroll, my dad 'cough' taught me how to use them."

"Isn't that supposed to take amazing chakra control." Shikamaru asked his eyebrow quirked slightly, Naruto shrugged his shoulders, he'd never even heard of it before. "I'm not sure, it 'cough' wasn't really hard to learn." Shikamaru was visibly surprised at that. Miru continued by channeling chakra into the parchment.

In a small blast of smoke, that signalized the air displacement a tent appeared, along with quite a few basic essentials, along with cups, plates, and pans. "Cool." Naruto muttered, making Miru slightly embarrassed. "Now we ain't gotta worry about setting up." Shikamaru seemed pretty happy about this fact, the tent was more than large enough for three.

"Yeah but I didn't bring 'cough' any food, at least that's not ration bars." Miru informed them, not that either one seemed to care that much. "But there is a river just over that way." Miru pointed north of their current position. "Sounds good to me." Naruto's stomach decided to begin rumbling at that moment.

Even so he didn't feel dumb for throwing out his ration bars, he would rather go hungry than ever eat one of those again. "Right, 'cough' I'll go catch some." Miru said hurrying off in the direction he had pointed. Shikamaru sighed. "We should probably follow him, Iruka said to stick together, such a drag." Regardless of his words, Naruto got the feeling the boy didn't mind nearly as much as he tried to make it sound.

The river was only about a five minute walk from the campsite, looking at the map Miru realized that all the campsites were positioned close to water. Something it didn't take a genius to figure out was purposeful. "Okay." Miru reached into his kunai pouch drawing a few of the blades in to his hand, he stood by the river, waiting for fish to swim by.

Naruto was amazed as Miru speared fish after fish, with seemingly no effort involved. Nodding to himself the blonde pulled out a fistful of his own knives and waited, when he saw an opportunity he threw the projectile with all of his might. Only for the knife to miss completely losing all most all of its momentum the second it hit the water.

Naruto scratched his head, going back to observing Miru, who once again speared a fish like it was the easiest thing in the world. Naruto watched as unlike his kunai, Miru's glided through the water without any resistance at all. Shikamaru walked up next to him. "It's weird." he muttered with a yawn catching Naruto's attention.

"What is?" Naruto said turning to the lazy boy. "It's just in class, Miru's always so quiet, he never really stands out." Naruto kind of understood what the boy was saying, but it still sounded a little like Shikamaru was making fun of his friend. "And what's your point?" Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders looking out over the river, and stretching his arms above his head.

"Out here, it's obvious, he's much more advanced than any one else in class." Naruto was surprised, but the more he thought about it the more he realized it was true. "Huh.. I guess your right, I never noticed but he does know a lot." Shikamaru nodded. "Yeah, but it's not only that, he's adding chakra to his kunai, that's an advanced skill."

"How do you put chakra into a kunai?" Naruto had never heard of something like that, but it explained why they could pierce through the waters surface so easily. Where as Naruto's just floated lifelessly to the river bed. "I'm not sure, my dad told me about it though, and I'm sure that's what he's doing."

Naruto looked back towards Miru who at this point had already caught quite a few fish. "Hey Miru?" Naruto said gaining the boy's attention a thought popping into his head. "Huh.. what is 'cough' it?" He said pausing in the midst of launching another kunai. "Just how do we get the fish out of the water?" Naruto asked, the kunai had indeed killed the fish, but left them pierced to the riverbed.

Miru stared at Naruto for a minute, processing his question before answering. "We swim." The answer was simple, and Miru said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Naruto looked warily at the river. "I.. uh.. I can't swim." He admitted feeling a little embarrassed, it didn't help that Miru stared at him like he had grown a second head.

"That's fine 'cough' I'll get them." Miru said taking off his white shirt and kicking off his sandals. Before he could dive into the water, a hand was placed on his shoulder. "I don't think that's a great idea." Shikamaru said staring down at the water himself. "We're in the middle of fall, it'll be winter soon, also aren't you already sick."

Miru seemed a bit put off. "I have to get them, I can't necessarily just 'cough' let it go to waste, after 'cough' killing so many." Shikamaru gave a lazy smile. "I can help with that." The answer was a little cryptic, but the way he said it left no doubt in Naruto's mind that whatever he was about to do would be awesome.

"Right." Shikamaru said walking closer to the water's edge, and placing his hands together in a seal. "Shadow Net Jutsu" Naruto watched amazed as Shikamaru's shadow literally spread out from under his feet. The strain on Shikamaru's face was enough to know how difficult it was to do what he was attempting, as the shadow split into many small pieces and criss crossed, linking themselves together like a fishing net.

Shikamaru released his handsign to bend down and grab one end of the net, Naruto couldn't believe what he was seeing, sure he had heard of some of the jutsu that more advanced ninja could use. However he had never witnessed anything more than the three the academy was going to teach them. With a grunt of exertion, the pony-tailed boy heaved the net out of the water, managing to grab all the fish as well as Miru, and Naruto's kunai.

"That was awesome, how'd you learn that." Naruto bounced on the heels of his feet, his eyes shining with a kind of enthusiasm that was almost contagious. Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders. "My dad." Naruto didn't seem perturbed by Shikamaru's short uninspired answer. "Is he some kind of like super ninja or something?"

Shikamaru had never thought something as simple as one of his clans basic jutsu, could cause a reaction in anybody. Honestly he didn't enjoy being questioned. Questions required answers, and answering questions wasted time that Shikamaru preferred to use doing other things. "I guess, he's a Jonin." Shikamaru rubbed his neck slightly unused to the strain that came with that particular jutsu, having just learned it a couple weeks before.

"Just like your dad, huh Miru." Naruto said turning to his friend. "Yeah I guess 'cough' so." Miru answered quietly his father still not a topic of conversation he was comfortable with. Naruto didn't catch on to this though Shikamaru seemed to. "Can you teach me?" Naruto asked switching his attention back to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru took a step back as Naruto continued getting closer to him. "It's troublesome but I can't clan rules, and all that." Shikamaru said not quite convincing enough for Naruto to give up. "Please-" Naruto stretched out the word his head bowed with his hands clasped above in a kind of begging motion.

"I said I ca-" Shikamaru was cut off as a large man in full shinobi gear burst into the forest, charging straight for Naruto. Acting as quickly as he could Miru put himself between the man and Naruto. "Stupid kid." The man grunted, using the back of his hand to knock Miru through the air, where his small body connected with a large tree.

"Miru!" Naruto yelled as the sound of his friend's skull hitting the hard tree bark filled the quiet forest.

End.

A/N: Another chapter down, gonna have a timeskip soon. This opening arc will be ending within the next couple chapters, Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, and thanks to everyone who will in the future.


	8. Forest Of Blood

Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 8

Forest Of Blood

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

"Miru!" Naruto quickly ran over to his friend, looking the boy over. Miru reached out a hand placing it on Naruto's shoulder. "I'm okay, but 'cough' watch out, he's really strong." Naruto nodded turning around to face the man that had suddenly stormed their campsite. The man didn't appear interested in the children at the moment, instead digging his large hands into the pouch on his side. The man grunted as he pulled out a small white gem.

The man spun in a circle slowly keeping his gaze fixed on the mineral. The man let out a guttural laugh, as the stone started emitting a faint red glow. Raising his gaze his eyes connected with Naruto's, A vicious grin spreading across his lips. "I finally found you." He said his voice deep and beastly, slowly he began marching towards Naruto.

"Who are you!" Naruto yelled charging at the man his fist raised, the man made no move to block the punch letting it strike him in his unprotected stomach. The man let out another deep laugh. "You should ask your parents that one." The man said a bit vaguely. "You hurt my friend!" Naruto continued striking the man punch after punch, putting all the force he could muster into every strike.

"I'm gonna do a lot worse than that." The man said the grin never leaving his face even as gently struck the boy in the side with the back of his hand, sending him flying just as he had done Miru. "It's strange I thought all you brats were prodigies." The man stomped towards the young blonde, who was to busy pulling himself off the ground to notice the large foot that slammed down onto his back knocking the wind out of him.

Three shuriken flew by the large man's face, one of which managed to cut him across the cheek. The man turned towards the attacker his wild brown hair rustling with the movement. "I let my guard down, I guess one of you brat's actually has some balls." The man said locking eyes with Shikamaru, who was busy rooting around in his front pants pocket.

Shikamaru grinned a bit as his fingers wrapped around the small glass vial. Yanking it out quickly he threw it onto the ground waiting for the cloud of red smoke to rise into the air. After a few seconds Shikamaru realized something was wrong, Unfortunately the man was much faster than he seemed and before Shikamaru could act the man was in front of him.

Reaching out he grabbed the lazy boy by the neck lifting him to eye level. "You know if you'd of run, you probably would've lived to see tomorrow." The man said squeezing tighter, Shikamaru's vision was quickly becoming blurry as his air supply was cut off. "Let him go!" Naruto yelled as he plunged a kunai into one of the man's large tree trunk like legs.

The man let out a grunt of pain kicking backwards, nailing Naruto directy in the chest with his large boot clad feet. Shikamaru took the moment of weakness to break the man's hold on him falling onto the mushy wet ground next to the river. Naruto landed next to where Miru was, the white haired boy favoring his side.

"Miru are you sure you're okay." Naruto questioned noticing how little his friend had moved. "I'll 'cough' be fine, I 'cough' think he broke my leg though." Naruto cursed under his breath, standing shakily back to his feet. He turned back towards the man just in time to see him stomp his large foot down on Shikamaru's thin leg.

The yell that pierced the air, was something Naruto would not forget anytime soon, nor the sound of a bone snapping so violently, or the sight of bone as Shikamaru did his best to crawl away from his attacker. Naruto ran towards the man, regardless of knowing there was no way he would reach Shikamaru in time, as the man raised his foot again, this time positioning it over Shikamaru's fragile neck.

Naruto shut his eyes tight and pumped his legs faster, as the man's foot came down. Naruto was scared he had never really felt this way before. He wasn't scared of his own death, that wasn't something that scared him, he was however scared of others getting hurt, especially because of him, and the man had made it obvious that Naruto was his target. The thought of losing any of the people that treated him like a person made his blood boil.

Naruto's eyes snapped open as the man let out a rather loud and terrified scream. Naruto didn't understand what he was seeing at first, but he did notice that Shikamaru had managed to crawl away, without further injury. Only after that did Naruto notice what had the large man in such hysterics, as one of his large arms was no longer attached to his shoulders.

"Don't touch my friends!" Naruto spun at the sound of the voice, to see Miru up leaning against the tree he had smacked into earlier. His heart dropped however as he took in his appearance, most of Miru's previously white clothes were now stained a deep red, coupled with a line of blood running from his mouth down his chin.

Naruto's eyes widened further as Miru raised his arm into the air, a trail of crimson liquid following the movement. "Crimson Blades!" Miru yelled swinging his arm forward, the blood launching forward, cutting through everything in there path. The man had acted quickly a large wall of rock rising from the ground in front of him barely managing to stop the attack.

"It seems I was mistaken, I thought the blonde was the Takai's boy, but I guess that's you isn't it." The man said it more as an observation than a question. "To have so much control over such a powerful Kekkei Genkai at such a young age." The man chuckled stepping out from behind his rock wall. "I guess the part about all of you brat's being prodigies is true to."

"Miru what's going on?" Naruto asked running over to his friend. "Naruto leave, while you can." Miru said his face serious, skin growing paler by the second. "I'm not gonna leave, who knows what would happen." Miru let a small smile slip onto his face. "Thank you Naruto, for being my friend, but if you don't leave now, I can't promise any of us will survive."

Naruto stood rooted to the spot for a moment, unsure what exactly he should be doing. He was forced to move quickly however as a large sharp spear made of rock flew straight towards him, he noticed a little to late, and was almost impaled. A flash of the red shot passed him diverting the large projectile just enough for it to fly beside Naruto's head instead of through it.

"Run now!" Miru shouted, the blood flowing through the air back towards him, where it continuously spiraled around his small body. Naruto couldn't believe what he was seeing, his friend was already so powerful, Naruto knew that he was in the way, that there was nothing he was capable of doing to help, and that knowledge hurt him.

"I said leave!" Miru said the blood shooting out towards the large man again, the man blocking with yet another rock wall. Naruto didn't even have time to wonder how the man was using jutsu without hand signs of any kind. Cursing under his breath Naruto ran over to where Shikamaru was still crawling away through the mud.

"C'mon." Naruto said pulling the lazy boy to his feet supporting his weight by having Shikamaru lean on his shoulder, keeping the pressure off of his broken leg. "The vial." Naruto turned his head towards Shikamaru just slightly. "Vial?" Naruto said confused, until the memory hit him. 'Right the emergency smoke stuff' Naruto thought as he began digging in Shikamaru's front pocket only for the boy to stop him.

"It's over there." Shikamaru said pointing over to the large man, when Naruto looked a little closer he could barely make out the glass vial stuck in the mud. "I tried to break it, but the mud cushioned it." Shikamaru explained. "How the hell are we supposed to get it." Naruto said as another clash of rock versus stone shook their surroundings.

"I can use my shadow net, but I don't know if I can stretch it far enough." Shikamaru said forming the sign for the jutsu quickly. Quietly speaking the name of the technique Shikamaru's shadow began its strange movement. Slowly working it's way along the uneven ground towards where the vial was stuck, the man moved quickly as stomping on the shadow as it passed by his foot. The jutsu failed with Shikamaru crying out in pain.

"What happened!?" Naruto exclaimed worriedly as Shikamaru clutched at his arm. "Stupid kids, everyone knows a Nara's weakness is that their shadows are directly connected to their own bodies." Shikamaru sent a heated glare at the man, who chuckled in response. "How do you know who I am?" Shikamaru asked stretching out his arm, relieved that no real damage had been done.

"See this?" The man pointed to the shinobi head band, that adorned his forehead. A strange mark was etched across it as well as an insignia that was similar to an open book. "This means I'm from the village of hidden knowledge, as the name suggests, its our job to know things." The man barely dodged a small blade of blood that threatened to seperate his head from his body.

"You shouldn't take your eyes off your opponent!" The look in Miru's eyes grew darker and darker as the minutes passed. "You shouldn't be in such a hurry to die." The man shot back bending over and picking up the small red vial, and tucking it into his vest pocket. "As a shinobi of the village of hidden knowledge, it is my job to travel the world, and bring back specimens for research into unknown techniques, similar to your Kekkei Genkai, luckily you don't need to be alive for the research to commence."

The man launched himself at Miru almost faster than Naruto could follow, striking at the young boy's face with his large fist. "How is he so big and still so fast." Naruto asked nobody in particular, grabbing a handful of shuriken from his pouch and throwing them towards the mans back. At the same time blood flowed around Miru, forming a thin barrier, that while cracking managed to stop the man's pure physical strength without to much trouble.

Naruto's bladed weapons similarly hit the back of the large man's head only to bounce off as though hitting a wall of stone. The man laughed deeply, scratching at the back of his head. "Of course I have taken the time to master some of those techniques myself." he stomped one of his large feet on the ground.

Naruto along with Shikamaru fell into the dirt as the ground rumbled, shaking violently. Shikamaru hissed in pain, landing on his broken leg. "What do we do, Miru can't keep this up forever." Naruto muttered quietly, though Shikamaru could still hear him. The dark haired boy sat on the ground for a moment thinking to himself.

With a heavy sigh the boy finally spoke. "I have an idea." Naruto snapped his attention to Shikamaru hope filling his expression. "Get me over to that tree." Shikamaru pointed just a little ways away, nodding Naruto once again helped the boy to his feet. Laying him gently against the tree Shikamaru motioned for Naruto to come closer.

Without hesitation Naruto moved so his ear was close to Shikamaru's mouth. "Okay now you're going to need to do a lot of the preparation." Naruto accepted as Shikamaru began relaying his plan to the blonde boy, only the sounds of Miru's battle distracting them. "Now hurry, it's a drag, but Miru will run out of chakra, probably really soon."

Naruto shot to his feet running off into the woods to the left of the battle. "Sending your blonde friend for help?" The man laughed again. "He'll never get to any one in time, all there'll be to come back to is a couple of corpse's." The man said swinging his arm lazily the earth moving and following his movement's similar to how Miru's blood.

Miru's complexion had gotten much paler, but that didn't stop him from matching the fully trained ninja blow for blow. Figuratively speaking of course seeing as Miru was so much smaller he had made sure to keep the man at bay to the best of his abilities. Using all the mid to long range jutsu his father had taught him over the last four years.

The man tried to rush in close to Miru, something he had been doing repeatedly. "Crimson Rain!" Miru said launching small drops of blood towards the man's approaching form. The tiny red balls of liquid pelted the man's large body, cutting into his flesh almost like razor blades. Quickly as he could the man jumped to the side, before rushing forward again.

"Crimson Sword!" Miru's arm disappeared being replaced by a large red blade, that he swung towards the man's head. Laughing once again, something that the man did a lot, he raised his own arm blocking the sword like construction with the mass of hardened rock that had covered his hand. Miru slashed furiously, trying to break through the man's guard.

Though the longer they fought the more obvious it became to Shikamaru that Miru was losing strength fast. "Damn it Naruto hurry up." He whispered to himself, as the man finally managed to strike Miru full force across the face. Sending the white haired boy back against the tree he had hit earlier, leaving him gasping for air, sweat pouring from his whole body.

Miru moved his arm forward forcing the blood into a barrier between him and the man, however a single kick managed to completely shatter it this time. The man's foot connecting with Miru's chest causing him to scream in pain again. "Where's all that energy you had, already outta steam." The man mocked stomping on his left arm this time.

"I do love it when you scream in agony." The man said as a loud snap echoed from the childs arm, signifying the breaking of his arm. Almost on command Miru let out another cry of pain, using his still functional arm to hold his chest. "You actually put up quite the fight." The man laughed to himself. "Too bad it's over."

As the man raised his large foot one more time prepared to end the boy's life with a final stomp to the cranium, a barrage of shuriken coming in from the left forced him to jump back. "It's gonna take more than that!" The man yelled into the forest surrounding him, on cue another volley attacked him from the right.

"Damn kid." He jumped back again, having to dodge a handful of kunai immediately afterwords. "This isn't doing anything, just delaying the inevitable." Finally a single kunai sped towards him from the front, courtesy of Naruto who stepped out from behind a nearby tree. "Like I said it's pointless!" The man said sidestepping the projectile.

"What the hell!" The man exclaimed his body not moving, the kunai striking him directly where his heart would be. The man burst out laughing as the knife bounced off his skin. "Like I said." The man took a step forward easily breaking the hold that Shikamaru's shadow had on him. "It's not possible, for you to kill me!"

Naruto let a satisfied smile blossom across his face even as the large man began charging towards him. A sudden burst of red smoke billowed out from the man's clothes, coughing wildly he rubbed at his eyes trying to keep the smoke from blinding him. "Damn it!" He yelled trying his best to bat the smoke away.

"You're dead." Miru little more than whispered, a small needle shaped blood projectile firing towards the distracted man. The man's movements stopped abruptly, falling to his knees, before finally falling over completely, not even the rise and fall of his chest continuing. The needle had went straight through his forehead killing him almost instantly.

Miru let a smile overtake his face as the man stopped moving completely. "Shikamaru, how did you know it would work?" Naruto asked lifting the boy and taking him over to the white haired boy. "If you watched him fight, you would have realized anytime he was attacked in more than one area, he would avoid it, but if the attacks were more focused he would allow them to hit him."

Naruto shook his head having not noticed that at all. "What I mean is that for his skin to harden, he had to focus, I figured the smoke would break that focus long enough to finish it." A look of understanding crossed Naruto's face. "Oh... But then what was the point of setting up all the shuriken traps?" Naruto said in his normal confused tone.

Shikamaru sighed. "In case he realized we were aiming for the vial, I had to get him in my jutsu, but I there was no way I'd be able to stop him if I didn't catch him off guard, and that's why the shuriken were important." Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know seems like it would've been easier to just skip all that and throw the kunai at the vial."

Shikamaru sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Then the chances of him figuring out the plan would've been much higher, and that would've been much more trouble than it was worth." Naruto wasn't so sure, but didn't see any reason to continue arguing about it. "Either way we won, right Miru?" Naruto turned to his white haired friend.

"Hey what's wrong?" He asked as Miru made no movement to show he had heard his friend speak. His head down and breathing shallow, he laid with his back against the tree, his body covered in sweat and blood. "I'm... okay." He finally spoke though his voice was barely audible. Naruto moved a little closer to Miru, lifting his head up to look in his eyes.

"Are you sure you're okay." Naruto asked feeling how cold Miru's skin had become, on top of his unnaturally pale complexion. "Miru?" His friend wasn't answering him, and Naruto was beginning to 'lAwzqthink something was wrong. Looking over his friends body he quickly spotted the broken arm, as well as the possibly broken, but definitely bruised ribs.

"I said.. I'm fine." Miru finally answered weakly moving his non broken arm in an attempt to push Naruto away. "You don't look fine." Naruto stated vehemently continuing to look his friend over, reaching around his side, Naruto was surprised to find a spot of warm blood on the boy. "What the heck is that?" Naruto moved so he could see better.

Naruto's breath caught in his throat as he stared at the large piece of jagged branch that was sticking out of his friends back. "Miru, your gonna be fine, right?" Naruto said unsure as he looked at the deep wound on his friends back, close to his side where there was no bone to stop the impalement. "Of course, after all." Miru stopped talking as he devolved into a fit of coughing, unlike what was normal however, a large amount of blood escaped from his mouth.

"Shikamaru, how long till someone gets here." Naruto whispered, Shikamaru looked at the ground not positive what to say. "I don't know, I-" Naruto turned to the black haired boy's tears in his eyes. "How long!" He screamed, making Shikamaru jump a bit. "They..." Shikamaru heaved a heavy sigh. "They won't make it."

"Why the hell not!" Shikamaru couldn't look at the blonde boy anymore and instead turned his attention to the forest floor. "Hey... Naruto." The blonde looked back towards his white haired friend as he heard him speak. "What's up?" Naruto asked doing his best to keep his voice straight. "Are you... really going to... be the greatest ninja.. ever."

"Of course, I'm gonna get so strong that no one ever has to die... again." Naruto's voice cracked, as the tears began flowing more freely. "I... want to give you... something then." Miru spoke again, each time his voice got quieter as his strength waned. Shikamaru began making his way over to the white haired boy as well from his position, dragging his leg along the ground, wincing in pain as he did so.

"Give me something?" Naruto said as Miru grabbed his hand, something that seemed to take a lot of his remaining energy. "I... don't know if... this'll hurt." Miru said as blood once again began moving around him. "I... don't have much... chakra left... but I think.. I can do this much." Naruto was about to ask what, as a very small tendril of blood shot forward burrowing into the skin on Naruto's palm.

Naruto almost screamed in terror as a feeling similar to that of an insect tearing through his skin, ran throughout his arm. While it didn't hurt at first the feeling of something crawling under his skin was more than enough to cause a panic. "What.. What are you doing!?" He yelled as Miru's blood continuously dug into his veins.

As their blood began mixing together inside Naruto's body, it began to feel like someone was pouring lave into his arm. The pain was quite similar to when he had first tried to use chakra. As Naruto screamed partially in fear, and the part in pain Miru got a sad look to his eyes. "I'm sorry." Naruto wasn't even sure if the boy had spoken or he had read his thoughts.

Naruto blacked out shortly after, the last thoughts he heard were not his own but that of his friend, "I don't want to die." As Naruto and Miru fell to the forest floor beside each other, Shikamaru could only watch helplessly. It was thirty minutes before help arrived, as Shikamaru had said, they didn't make it in time.

End.

A/U: Another chapter down, and more to come, feedback is welcome and appreciated. I hope you all enjoy it, finally added a bit of action to the story.


	9. Proposal

Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 9

Proposal

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

Naruto sat in his small apartment staring at the wall, he wasn't sure how long he had been there, and didn't really feel like caring about it. Some people had come to check on him, mostly Iruka-sensei, though both Yugao and Shikamaru had made appearances as well. After the incident in the forest, Naruto and Shikamaru had been taken to see the Hokage.

The questions he had asked had been rather straight forward, had the man mentioned anything about why he attacked, did he say which village he belonged to, and other such things. Naruto had told them about the man's being from a village known as the village of hidden knowledge. Naruto hadn't expected it to put the old man on edge the way it did.

The man's name was unknown, and the headband he had been wearing had disappeared mysteriously before the Anbu arrived. The only thing that mattered to Naruto though was the simple fact that his first and only friend was now gone. "I couldn't save him." Naruto muttered this to himself, not caring much about his surroundings,

The lights in his bedroom were turned off, and an untouched meal sat on the table next to his bed. The meal itself was courtasy of Yugao, Naruto could possibly know the passage of time just by counting the number of meals he hadn't touched. A knock at the door announced the arrival of another visitor, someone answered it, though Naruto was unsure who.

The door to his bedroom opened slowly allowing the entrance of the tall white haired man. "Uzumaki." Ryouta spoke in his loud commanding voice, though the prideful tone that used to exist behind his words was gone replaced by a monotonous sound, that was devoid of any emotion. "Miru's burial will take place tomorrow."

Naruto's eyes shifted just slightly at the mention of his friend's name, otherwise there was no indication that he even realized someone was in the room tomorrow. "I believe my son would be happy if you came." Ryouta could see he would get no words from the boy and so, bowing his head ever so slightly he left closing the door behind him.

Naruto could hear Ryouta further conversing with another person, that he was sure was Yugao. Though he didn't move to check, he was relatively sure that the woman was still sleeping on his old worn down couch. Shifting just a little, Naruto eyed the clock, the flashing numbers read one forty seven.

He made no sounds, he didn't truly care much about the time, though he had thought it to be much later. 'Miru gave his life to save us.' Those were the words Shikamaru had said when he had visited two days ago. 'Sitting here in the dark isn't going to help anything.' Iruka had told him this the day before, and deep down he knew that sitting in depression wasn't going to accomplish anything. "It sure as hell isn't going to bring Miru back."

"Maybe not but there might be a way." Naruto jumped slightly at the gruff voice that permeated his mind. "Who's there?" He said aloud, these being the only words he'd spoken in four days he could feel his voice box creak. "Just a... friend." They way this person spoke made Naruto think he was anything but that. "Show your self." The room seemed to be getting darker, almost like the light was being sucked away.

"I'm afraid that's not possible." Naruto was starting to panic as the last bit of light in the room faded, leaving Naruto in a blind state. "What do you mean?" Naruto shifted in his bed though no matter how hard he tried he could see nothing in the still darkness. "Haven't figured it out yet boy." The voice snarled, a deep heavy growl following it's words. The growl was very animalistic, something that made a thought jump to the forefront of young Naruto's mind.

"The fox?" The deep voice chuckled in a way that just sounded wrong to Naruto's ears. "Well your half right any way." Naruto gulped a bit, trying to calm his racing heartbeat. "How?" The fox's laughing increased in volume, making Naruto more and more uncomfortable. "Your friend gave you quite the powerful gift." At the mention of Miru, Naruto looked down at the palm of his hand, and though he couldn't see anything through the darkness, he could feel the small puncture wound that had yet to heal.

"Get out of my head!" Naruto exclaimed before remembering that there were other's inside his apartment. "That is also possible, though only if your willing to listen." Naruto grit his teeth placing his hands over his ears in a futile attempt to block out the foxes words. "That won't work, I'm inside of you, a part of you, you can't block me out." Naruto laid down placing a pillow over his head. "Your not a part of me! Your just a murderer, you killed so many people why would I listen to anything you have to say."

"Foolish child, I'm no murderer, only humans can murder humans all I did was squash a few annoying insects." Naruto focused on his breathing trying to push the voice out of his mind, something that was even harder than reading the thoughts of his classmates. "That's a neat trick boy, but it won't work on me, your nowhere near strong enough to overpower my thoughts, so you should just do as I say, and maybe someday you'll have your little friend back, it would be the least you could do, after all if you had just been a little stronger, a little faster, maybe he wouldn't have died at all."

"No! There was nothing I could do, he bled to death, he was stabbed it didn't matter." Naruto was more trying to convince himself than the fox. "Really, a child with the Ketsuekisousa, bleeding to death, how strange." Naruto had never heard the word before and couldn't help but to ask. "What's that?" For a moment the only sound Naruto heard was that of the foxes deep breathing. "A genetic ability, that you human's call Kekkei Genkai, that allows the user to completely control their own blood."

"Kekkei Genkai?" Naruto had heard that somewhere before, thinking for a minute, he suddenly remembered the conversation that Miru had with Iruka. "I remember Miru seemed really interested in it." The darkness was almost strangling, and Naruto was beginning to find it hard to breath. "Of course the boy was interested in his own power, only a fool would not wish to understand their own gifts." Naruto got a visual of a large red muzzle grinning ominously, cutting through the pitch black room for only a second.

"Now then child, are you willing to listen to my proposal." Naruto thought it was unfair, that the creature would ask such a thing knowing that he didn't really have a choice. "I... yes." Naruto said in a dejected sort of way. "Good, now then, I can bring your friend back to this world." Naruto couldn't help the hope that bubbled up in his chest, though deep down he kept telling himself not to trust this thing that was speaking into his mind, this creature that saw human beings as nothing more than insects whose life didn't matter.

"First you will need to become stronger, which if I'm not mistaken, was a part of your goal anyway." Naruto nodded though he wasn't sure if the fox could see it or not. "Yeah, I'm gonna be Hokage." The fox laughed in it's eerily deep voice. "I would expect nothing less, after all if I must be trapped in the body of an insect, being in the body of the insects leader is what I would prefer." Again the fox spoke as if human life was nothing, something that was greatly bothering young Naruto by now. 'We're not bugs!"

Again that same laugh. "Your right, insects are much higher life forms than your pathetic species, you treat all that is around you with so little of the respect it deserves, and yet demand to be respected more than any others." Naruto wasn't sure what the fox was talking about, but it still made him angry, even not knowing half the words the fox spoke didn't stop Naruto from realizing that he was looking down on the human race in general.

"What do you want!?" Naruto finally yelled getting fed up with the foxes attitude. "Like I said first you must get stronger, after that I'll tell you the next step." Naruto could feel the dark presence reside back into the deepest reaches of his mind, and though he couldn't be sure that the demon could truly bring his friend back to life, he now at least had something to work towards. So with a new determination behind his blue eyes, and the light returning to his empty room Naruto took a deep breath, removing himself from his bed for the first time in what felt like days.

Walking through his door, he ignored the stare that Yugao was sending his way, not so much as acknowledging her existence as he walked through his front door out into the first bit of daylight he had seen in days. His legs guided him where he was going with little to no direction from their owner, and before he truly realized what he was doing, he found himself at the training ground that him and Miru had been going to until just a few days ago.

Naruto wasn't sure where to begin. "But I won't let that stop me!" Naruto exclaimed into the cool fall air, a strange wind blowing as he said it, rustling the leaves around him. He began the same way he had everyday before this, running his small body ragged with physical exercise. "It's not enough." Naruto said quietly as he lay on the ground almost two hours later. "No matter how much I do this, I won't get any better at fighting." A sudden thought struck him, and he made a decision, one he knew that Iruka probably wouldn't approve of.

"Even so, I won't give up." There was only one person that knew how to do what he wanted, and luckily Naruto would be seeing him in class the next day. "I'm sure he still has some." With a plan in mind Naruto started to get up off the ground another thought flashing through his mind, a kind of promise he had made. 'If I ever do die, would you take care of this place for me?' Naruto looked over towards the forest the wind blowing once again filling the air with the sound of leaves, Naruto's hair blowing a bit as well.

"I promised." With those words Naruto began walking again, and while he knew that he didn't have water or anything, he decided that checking on it would be good enough for today. The walk didn't bother him as much as it used to, maybe because he had a purpose in mind, he couldn't be sure. He stopped at the sound of muffled crying, peaking through the thick brush that surrounded the clearing, he spotted a familiar figure sitting in the dirt just in front of Miru's garden.

"Mitsuko." Naruto whispered the woman's name, her head jerked a bit as the words left his lips. Naruto covered his mouth, he hadn't thought she would hear him, and the last thing he wanted to do is bother her. "Naruto-chan." He sighed as she said his name aloud, Miru had mentioned that his mother had been a ninja before as well. Slowly he walked out of the brush and into the clearing so that Mitsuko could see him.

"I see, so Miru showed this place to you, didn't he." While it seemed like she was asking a question, Naruto could tell she wasn't. "Did he tell you that I helped him grow all these plants?" Mitsuko hadn't stood, still sitting on the ground staring ahead blankly. "Yeah, he did." Naruto was starting to get a little freaked out at how Mitsuko wouldn't so much as look at him. "We spent weeks, clearing this field, and finding the right seeds to grow."

Naruto could hear Mitsuko's voice crack, and it was beginning to get to him. "I... uh." Naruto just wasn't sure what to say, after all, he had been ignoring everyone for the last four days himself. Only a promise from a giant demon fox managed to drive him from his room. "What was the point?" Mitsuko asked, turning towards Naruto for the first time. He could see that she had been crying for awhile, red streaks had stained her face, and even now more tears flowed.

"I.. don't know." Naruto whispered, the only thing he could say. "Don't say that!" Naruto jumped at her suddenly screaming at him. "There's a reason! There has to be a reason!" The woman was going hysterical, Naruto wanted to run away, but couldn't bring himself to do it. "You know, Miru never was good at making friends, you were his first." Her voice returned to it's soft tone just as suddenly. "That's why even though I was surprised when you walked into our house, I ignored it."

Naruto felt the nervousness rise in his gut. "What do you mean?" He asked afraid of the answer. "I'm not like my husband, I always did enjoy talking and being social, unlike Ryouta who would rather keep to himself, just like Miru." Slowly Mitsuko rose to her feet. "I don't know what you're talking about." Naruto said in his confused voice. "I knew all about you, the demon child, the village's dirty little secret."

Mitsuko walked slowly towards him, Naruto reflexively taking a step backwards in response. "Of course those were just rumors, every village has rumors, and even if they were true it didn't matter, as long as my little boy had a friend that's all that mattered." Naruto tripped as he walked backwards Mitsuko quickly catching up, till she was standing right above him. "And then when you told us what you wanted to do with your life, I knew that there was no way you were some evil demon."

Mitsuko bent down so she was eye level with the small blonde child. "You're going to get so strong that no one ever has to die, right?" Naruto wasn't sure what to think as the woman wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him into an embrace. "I just wish my son wouldn't have had to die either." Naruto could feel the woman's tears soaking through his shirt, and had to force back the tears from his own eyes.

He couldn't be sure how long the two of them sat there, but by the time the woman's tears had dried up the sun was beginning to set. Mitsuko let out a long breath and stood to her feet again. "I'm sorry, Naruto-chan, it looks as though your shirt will need to be washed." Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "It's fine I needed to do laundry anyway." Naruto said with an awkward laugh. Mitsuko gave him a smile that he was sure was fake.

The two stood staring at each other in an uncomfortable silence, Naruto had decided that he would in fact go to the funeral the next day. "I.. uh should probably get home." Naruto was trying to find a reason to leave, not that he didn't like Mitsuko, just that he was afraid of saying something that would make her cry again. "I need to be getting home as well." Mitsuko said using the sleeve of her long shirt to dry her eyes.

After a low bow, the same that way that he remembered her doing when he would visit their house, the two went their separate ways. Naruto going back the way he came and Mitsuko traveling in the opposite direction, Naruto found himself wondering where she was going, but thought she probably just knew a faster way back to the village. Nauto himself barely made it out of the thick foliage before darkness had consumed his surroundings.

Naruto walked the dimly lit streets, trying to decide if he should go and get the training equipment that he had in mind or wait until after Miru's funeral the next day. "Hey Naruto!" Naruto turned at the sound of someone calling his name, only to see an older girl making her way towards him slowly in a wheelchair. "Ayame." Naruto said back in acknowledgment, waiting for the ninja turned ramen girl to catch up to him.

"What are you doing out so late?" She questioned as she finally caught up with him, Naruto wasn't sure why she was interested in what he was doing, after all they had only spoken a couple of times. "I'm on my way home, I was training." She looked a little surprised at his answer, though the surprise was hidden quickly by a smile. "Really, by yourself?" Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I don't have anyone to train with, at least not anymore." Naruto whispered the last part, though Ayame's face fell a bit and Naruto began to think that she had heard him.

"Do you want to walk together?" Once again Naruto was surprised, but couldn't think of a reason to turn the girl down. "I guess, which way are you going." Naruto asked just to make sure they were heading in the same direction. "I'm going... that way." Ayame said pointing in the same direction that Naruto was already heading. "Really I thought you lived the opposite way." Naruto said, remembering a conversation he had once had with Teuchi.

"Oh.. I'm not going home." Naruto stared at the girl for a moment. "Then were are you going?" Naruto didn't want to seem like he was invading the girls privacy, but figured if they were walking together then she wouldn't mind revealing a little information. "I'm making a delivery." She said motioning to a ramen carrier that had been strapped onto the back of her wheelchair. "Really, I didn't know that you guys delivered." Secretly Naruto wished he had, there had been multiple times that he was to lazy to walk all the way to the ramen stand and had settled for instant. "We just started recently." Ayame said beginning to use her arms to propel the wheelchair forward.

Naruto followed close behind the girl, he would be lying if he said he wasn't a little nervous, Ayame wasn't exactly ugly after all, and he had never spent time alone with a girl before, not one close to his age anyway. "So Naruto... Didn't you say you wanted to be Hokage?" Naruto thought to himself, sure he had said those words many times but he couldn't remember having ever told her his dreams before. "Yeah I do." Naruto cursed his own nervousness, as he could barely force out any other words, his brain felt like it was shutting down.

"I wanted to be a medic shinobi myself." Naruto couldn't help but stiffen up at the girls words. "Really?" He feigned interest but on the inside he couldn't shake a terrible feeling of deja-vu. "Yeah it was always my dream to help people, I guess we're similar in that way, huh." Naruto nodded stiffly. "Yeah I guess." Naruto's voice cracked a bit, but if Ayame noticed she didn't say anything. He wasn't sure what this feeling was, it was like a jabbing in the back of his head trying to tell him something bad was about to happen.

"Hey are you alright?" Naruto jerked at the girls question, his thought's being pushed aside for a second. "Ye... yeah, I'm alright." Ayame didn't seem entirely convinced, but before she could press him further a sudden scream pierced the cool night air. Without any hesitation Naruto turned on his heel and took off in the direction he thought the scream had come from. When he couldn't immediately spot anything out of the ordinary, he began to panic. "I can't let anyone else get hurt, Miru saved me so I could help people." The way he was muttering to himself, might have made him seem unstable to any random passersby.

"Naruto what's wrong?" Naruto could barely hear the girls voice over the pounding of his own blood. "Something's happening." Naruto whispered under his breath, trying to calm his rapid pulse, a sudden surge of strength filled his body unlike anything he had ever felt before. Immediately afterwords he was left gasping for breath on his knees. "Naruto!" Ayame was getting very worried at this point, sure she hadn't been a ninja that long, but even she could feel the intensely strong chakra that had radiated from the boy just a moment before.

Naruto heard another scream, causing him to jerk his head up again the sudden bout of exhaustion quickly forgotten. "Can't you hear that?" Naruto asked spinning around wildly trying to pinpoint the exact location of sound. "I don't hear anything." Ayame whispered becoming frightened, a thought suddenly occurred to Naruto, and concentrating as hard as his brain would allow, he reached out using his thoughts. "Please someone." Naruto shot off like a rocket towards where he could feel the person's, a woman if he was right, thoughts.

Ayame unsure what else to do took off after him, moving her arms as fast as she was able, pumping chakra in order for her wheelchair to move faster. "Naruto!" She called after him, but it was like he was to consumed with what he was doing to be able to hear her. Naruto had never felt so fast before, and somewhere in the back of his head he wondered what was going on. "Please someone, help me." The woman's thoughts were hard to trace, but Naruto wasn't about to give up, pumping his legs as hard as he could, he zoomed through Konoha's back alleys.

He could feel the woman's thoughts getting stronger, which Naruto took to mean he was getting closer, so using it like a kind of radar, he continued his search. Another scream pierced the air this one sounding much closer, and directly to Naruto's right. Turning at the next junction Naruto made a bee line for the woman. While he wasn't sure how his strange power worked, it was like he could feel all the fear and pain the woman was experiencing, but instead of diverting the child from his goal it spurned him onwards.

The first thing to enter his field of vision was a young woman, maybe in her early twenties, tears flowing freely from her eyes. The fear that was etched across her face, made Naruto all the more angry, her disheveled long black hair, frayed out in every direction. She held her arms across her modest chest in an attempt to cover her bare skin, the shirt she had been wearing torn and thrown to the side. As Naruto charged forward the woman's eyes darted towards him.

Naruto was well aware of the woman's identity being one of the workers at a grocery he would occasionally visit, and be turned away from. The woman's gaze turned even more fearful while looking at into Naruto's eyes. Naruto could feel the fear she held for him just as strongly as the fear she held for her attacker who Naruto had yet to lay eyes on. "Who's there!" Naruto shouted into the dark crevices of the alley, his voice deeper and more animalistic than what he was use to.

A flash was all the warning he got, just a small glimpse, but it was all that he needed. Dodging quickly to the left he managed to avoid the tall slender man's sneak attack. Naruto was unsure how he knew that the attack was coming, just that he had already seen it happen, albeit very briefly in his mind. "You a ninja kid?" The man's voice held a greasy tone that was very fitting for his appearance. "You must be to see me comin like that." The man's laugh was a nasally sound that immediately hurt Naruto's ears, causing the beginnings of a headache to form.

"Who are you!" Naruto growled out, flexing the muscles in his hands, he felt as though he could do anything right now. "Just a passing traveler is all." The man said with a low bow, Naruto knew he was lying, while he wasn't able to clearly read the man's thoughts he could tell that much. Glaring at the man Naruto asked the only thing that came to mind. "Are you an enemy of Konoha?"

End.

A/N: I'm starting to get the hang of this I think, almost every bit of this story has been spur of the moment so far, but I finally have more of a plot in mind. I know that a lot of you probably think that this story is starting really slow, I just kept writing whatever came to mind and before I knew it I've already started writing chapter ten. Anyway please read and review, If I want to become a better writer I need to know what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong, and as always next chapter will be up on Sunday.

PS. Thank you to the people who have left reviews so far, it really does mean a lot, and helps keep me inspired to write, also if you have a question about my story feel free to ask and I'll answer to the best of my abilities.


	10. Artifact

Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 10

Artifact

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

The greasy looking man laughed in his annoying pitch. "Me, no I'm no enemy, just an honest man passing through, I promise." The smile the man tried to plaster on to his face, was much to fake for anyone to believe, Naruto included. He spoke to Naruto as though he were just a normal child, easy to fool, after all most of the time a kid would believe anything an adult would tell them. However Naruto was no normal child.

He may have been a bit thick headed at times, but he would never be so easily tricked to believe that the scene in front of him was a normal one. "You should go." Naruto said to the woman in his deep growling voice, one that did not fit his age. Naruto could feel the hesitation and nervousness that the woman was exuding, part of her wanted to tell Naruto to run and save himself, but the other half, the half that believed that Naruto was no more than a demon in human skin was all to willing to abandon the boy for her own benefit.

Naruto honestly didn't mind, he couldn't blame her, he was sure that in the same situation he might have acted the same way. "Just go!" Naruto shouted, that being all the encouragement the woman needed, she took off running away as fast as her trembling legs would carry her. The man's fake smile faded in an instant as he made to chase the girl. "Now that's not nice, we weren't done playing." The man said a frown on his face.

Naruto was surprised at the speed the man was able to move, running past the young boy without him even noticing. The man appeared in front of the fleeing woman, swiftly and without warning. "I think you should stay a little longer." The greasy man said backhanding the shirtless woman, sending her toppling to the ground. Naruto saw red, and before he was sure what he was doing he had sucker punched the man across his rat like face.

The greasy haired man, leveled a glare at the young boy, rubbing his jaw. "For a kid, you sure do have a strong hook." The man said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a familiar object, reaching up he tied it around his forehead. Naruto couldn't contain his surprise as he stared at the familiar insignia that adorned the metal plate, that of an opened book. "From the look on your face, I think you may have met my friend."

Naruto saw another flash, just a second long, but that was enough as he bent backwards just a little evading the strong kick that was aimed at his head. This was the first time he had ever seen things like that, flashes of what was about to happen, he just chalked it up to his powers getting stronger. "You've got pretty good reflexes." The man said stopping to clap his hands together, almost as if encouraging the young boy.

"Unfortunately for you..." The man trailed off, looking into the sky a shocked look on his face. Naruto followed his gaze but didn't see anything, a moment later and a sudden force hit Naruto in his unprotected face effectively busting his nose. "Kids are so easy." The man laughed jumping backwards to avoid any retaliation that Naruto might try. The man had meant to knee the young boy in the stomach but the huge height difference had made it to where instead Naruto had been struck in the center of his face.

Naruto had thought that the hit would've hurt more than it did, not that he would complain about it. Quickly regaining his bearings, Naruto made a mental note not to take his eyes off of the man again. "Was that the best you could do?" Naruto said cockily, wiping the blood from his face, not that it did any good as it continued to run from his possibly broken nose. "You wish kid." The man replied jumping from one leg to the other, like he had too much energy to stand still.

Ironically the tall greasy man acted more like a kid than any of the students Naruto had seen in the academy. "I'm just takin it easy on ya, after all if I gotta fight a kid, might as well have some fun while I'm at it." The man used his jumping motion to launch himself at Naruto with a burst of speed, that caught Naruto off guard. Naruto managed to move his body just enough for the man's first hit to roll off of him.

The follow up however landed squarely on Naruto's cheek, the force of which knocked him to the ground. Naruto could tell the man was in fact pulling his punches just as he said, the hit not doing much more than stinging his face. The man backed off afterwords letting Naruto get back to his feet. "So kid, I don't suppose you know what happened to my buddy." The man pointed at his headband to emphasize his point.

Naruto grit his teeth, everytime he looked at the insignia adorning the man's headband his anger would return burning stronger and stronger. "I'll kill you!" Naruto charged forward recklessly. "In some cases charging forward might actually manage to catch an opponent of guard." The man said stepping back slightly, allowing Naruto's blind strikes to miss completely. "But this is definitely not one of those times." The man said retaliating with a short kick towards the blonde's leg that was meant to knock Naruto off his feet.

Reacting quickly Naruto jumped, one of his feet landing on the man's outstretched leg, while the other traveled further upwards, nailing the man directly in his nether regions. His eye's widened as he fell to the ground clutching at his wounded area. Naruto breathed a sigh of relieve as the man struggled on the ground, it was short lived however as after only a few seconds the man rose back up to his feet. "You fucking little shit stain!." The man yelled kicking the boy in the center of the chest sending him flying backwards.

All the air left Naruto's lungs as his back struck the concrete wall of a nearby building. His small body crumpled to the ground, where he lay struggling to get his lungs to work correctly again. Marching towards the young blonde, the man had a fierce look on his rat like face. "I guess I need to take this more seriously!" He yelled stomping down on Naruto's back, causing the boy to yell out in pain.

Bending down so that he was at face level the man looked directly into the young boy's eyes. "You should have left when I gave you the choice!" The man continued yelling as he lifted the boy up by his shirt, spit flying from the greasy man's lips as he raged. Pulling back his opposite hand he launched it forward, burying it in the young boy's soft stomach. "But you had to be the hero!" He hit him again, the force of which caused Naruto's body to go limp.

"C'mon boy you can't be dead yet." The man slammed Naruto's small body against the concrete wall again, eliciting a weak groan from the boy. "That was pitiful." He said grabbing Naruto by his blonde hair and staring into his barely open eyes. The fierceness in Naruto's eyes had still not faded however, the young boy using all the strength he could muster to move his head enough to glare at the man, making a noise in the back of his throat, Naruto reared back before launching a glob of saliva into the man's face.

"That's the spirit!" The man yelled excitedly, bringing his head forward harshly headbutting the child, Naruto felt dizzy as his vision blurred, the strike seemed to affect the man as well though. "Damn what's your head made of?" He said throwing the boy to the ground. Naruto couldn't didn't appear to be able to muster the strength to rise off of the ground, and was unable to protect himself as the man began stomping repeatedly on his small body.

Arms, legs, chest, head, it didn't seem to matter as the man viciously attacked Naruto's small body. The cracking of bones filled the alley as the repeated attacks began doing permanent damage to the child. "Too bad kid, you just couldn't cut it." The man laughed out loud, still stomping on the now bloody and broken lifeless body of the young blonde boy. "This wasted more time than I thought." He used one of his hands to brush his greasy hair back.

The girl in the wheelchair sat a little ways away, sweat covering her brow, with her eyes closed in deep concentration, hands forming a seal. Naruto stood in front of the man, not taking any notice of the girl, too distracted by the the rat faced man violently attacking what appeared to be thin air. "What's going on?" He muttered to himself, as the man started stomping on the ground repeatedly. Turning his attention away briefly, he noticed that the woman from earlier had still not left.

"I said to run!" Naruto exclaimed pulling a knife from his pouch and turning back towards the man, just as he heard him speak. "This wasted more time than I thought." Rushing forward Naruto jammed his knife deep into the man's exposed back, hearing Ayame's warning just a little to late. "No don't, just run!" He turned his head finally recognizing that the girl had followed him. "What?" He asked as the man groaned in pain, reaching behind him and pulling the knife out of his back.

"To think, I'd get tricked by genjutsu." The man sighed throwing Naruto's kunai to the side. "Though on the bright side." The man turned his gaze to Naruto again. "This means I get to kill you all over again!" The man made to grab Naruto, who dodged quickly by stepping to the side, counterattacking with a jab that hit the man in his side. "I don't have much more time to play." The man didn't react to Naruto's hit in the slightest, instead staring up into the sky.

"I was supposed to get the artifact back too, they won't be happy." The man reached into his pocket pulling out a small metal ring, that he slipped onto his middle finger. "I'm surprised that your as strong as you are, being as young as you are anyway." The anger the man had displayed before had disappeared being replaced by an odd air of calm.

"But I do have to kill you, the little crippled girl as well, can't let anyone know I was in the village after all." The man outstretched his hand a small fireball appearing in his palm. "This will finish it." He said the fire growing in intensity as he spoke. "That's what you think." A familiar voice broke in as a figure dropped down behind the man. "Sorry I'm late Naruto, though in my defense I didn't think you'd be getting in so much trouble lately."

Naruto felt excitement bubble up inside of him, though a little regret was there as well, along with the knowledge that once again he had failed to protect anyone, and was the one who needed protecting."Yu-" Naruto stopped himself from saying her name out loud, she was dressed fully in her Anbu uniform which meant that right now he was only allowed to use her code name. "Cat, what are you doing here?"

"Anbu, huh.. I guess I really did waste too much time." The man spun trying to shove the fireball that rested in the palm of his right hand into the woman's cat mask covered face. "Try harder." She said grabbing his wrist with one arm and twisting harshly causing the man to hiss in pain, as the sound of the man's wrist snapping filled the air. "Bitch!" He lashed out with his other arm, which Cat lazily dodged by moving out of the way by just a fraction.

"You should watch your mouth." She reached up grabbing the hilt of her standard issue Anbu katana, and drawing it quickly, slashed at the man, almost too fast for the eye to follow. "There are children around." Just as quickly she sheathed the blade, leaving the man on his knees trying to use his broken right hand to stem the bleeding from his now missing left. "How dare you!" Flames erupted around his remaining hand, the one that had been broken.

Still on his knees he slammed the ground with his flame covered appendage causing a large explosion to erupt from the point of contact. Cat and Naruto were both flung away by the shockwave of fire, the nearby walls cracking from the force. Ayame used one of her arms to block the dust from getting into her eyes, coughing wildly she attempted to see through the thick dust and debris for any sign of blonde hair.

Ayame breathed a sigh of relief when the female Anbu appeared beside her the young boy in her arms. Naruto was still conscious, and struggling to free himself from the strong grip the woman had around his waist. "Let me down!" He demanded, which Cat eventually did, releasing the boy and allowing him to fall to the ground landing hard on his backside. "That hurt." He muttered rubbing his back and glaring up at the Anbu.

"What are you too good to thank me for saving your life?" She asked, staring back at the boy, at least that's what it looked like, Ayame couldn't really tell because of the mask. "Thanks." Naruto mumbled barely audibly. "That's better." The cat masked Anbu said reaching down and ruffling the blonde hair that covered his head. "I will not be beaten by a woman!" The Anbu turned at the man's scream, taking in his slightly altered appearance.

His clothing had been almost entirely burned off, exposing his blistering flesh to the night air. On top of which his previously long greasy hair, was now only barely covering his burnt scalp, in some places all of it had been scorched leaving bald spots all over his head. His lips looked like they had melted off, revealing his yellow teeth and bleeding gums. "You look like shit." Cat said reaching up and grasping the hilt of her sword again.

"Die bitch!" The flames grew around the man's body getting brighter and brighter, Naruto could feel the heat radiating from the man. "I'll take out half this village!" Cat wanted to call the man's bluff but the absurd amount of chakra the man was emitting made her believe that he might actually be capable of what he said. "Hotter, I have to make it hotter!" He yelled, the rocks underneath him started to pop and explode, as the fire swirled around his body.

"What's he doing?" Naruto asked the cat masked woman, she made no move to indicate she had even heard him speak. Yugao shifted slightly, eyeing her opponent. "I'm not sure, but it can't be good." A thought occurred to the young boy. "He put on a ring, right before he started using those seal less fire jutsu." Ayame confirmed his story having seen the same thing. "A ring huh... He is part of Chishiki, it might be an artifact."

Naruto didn't know what Yugao was talking about but he nodded anyway. "Yeah, what you just said." Bending her legs slightly she looked for an opening, observing his remaining hand, she noticed that there were no burns whatsoever on that part of his body. "Now die!" He brought his hand downward again. Yugao disappearing from both Naruto and Ayame's vision just as quickly, everything was over in less than a second.

"Stupid bitch..." Those were the last words the man muttered as Yugao's sword bifurcated him, The man had just enough time to watch as his right hand was separated from his body as well, before everything went black. Ayame covered her eyes, and Naruto felt a rather compelling urge to vomit, as the man was split vertically in half, a strong meaty stench filling the area. Due to the way he was standing Yugao had managed to remove his hand and kill him in the same swipe.

The woman in the cat mask stood impassively as the man's entrails flooded the ground at her feet, bending over she plucked his severed hand from the growing pool of blood. Quickly she removed the silver ring from it's place and threw the dead appendage to the side. "Disgusting." She muttered turning and making her way back over to the children who were waiting for her. "You two okay." She said placing her sword back in it's sheath, and slipping the ring into her tool pouch.

"Uh... yeah, I'm okay, how about you Ayame?" Naruto answered turning to the girl in the wheelchair who still had her eyes closed. "Yeah... but can we get out of here?" Yugao gave a halfhearted smile at the young ex ninja's question, not that either of them would be able to see it. "Of course, but I will need the both of you to come with me to the Hokage's office." The young girl nodded but another question was forefront in her mind.

"Can we stop by my house first? I need to tell my father where I'll be." Yugao agreed to the girls simple request. "That won't be a problem." She answered reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small vial of red liquid, which she threw on the ground making a cloud of red smoke appear. Only a few seconds passed before three shinobi dressed similar to Yugao made an appearance, the only difference being the masks they wore.

"We'll need a clean up crew, wouldn't want some innocent civilian coming across this mess." She motioned towards the pile of organs that was once a living person. All three quickly and wordlessly disappeared, Naruto could only guess where they were going. "All right, let's get going." It didn't take long to reach the ramen stand, where the obviously distressed Teuchi insisted on accompanying the three to the Hokage's building.

"I apologize Teuchi-san, but as this is official shinobi business I can not allow you to-" Naruto had never seen the normally kind man's face so red. "This is my daughter, and I will not be told that what she does isn't my business." Yugao sighed. "I understand, however-" Teuchi interrupted the Anbu again, "Good if you understand then let's go." Yugao was quickly losing her patience, one of the main reason's she had joined the Anbu was because she didn't like dealing with civilians.

"Very well." She sighed, Yugao knew that she had given in a bit too easily, but she didn't feel like wasting time arguing with the man, especially when the Hokage had no doubt already heard of what had happened, and was more than likely waiting their arrival. "You may come, but understand that the Hokage may not allow you into the room." Teuchi gave a short nod, happy that he had got his point across, or at least he thought he had.

The trip to the Hokage's tower took longer than normal for Yugao was used to, simply because she was traveling with a civilian, even Ayame managed to move faster than Teuchi, and she was stuck in a wheelchair, it astounded Yugao how anyone could let themselves be so out of shape. "Haven't had to make this walk in a while." The man let out a breath, brushing his sweaty gray hair out of his eyes, and rubbing his lower back.

When the group did finally arrive at the Hokage's tower, they were promptly let in, well all except for Teuchi. Who as with Yugao, was all too happy to let the secretary know how unhappy he was, Yugao silently thanked the woman, who ushered them past. Making a note to apologize to her for leaving the stubborn man to bother her. As the large doors closed behind them, the old man lit his pipe taking a long drag of it, and letting the smoke fill the space in front of him.

"So then I heard that we had a little rat problem in the village tonight." He said giving Yugao a look that she knew meant to start explaining. "Yes Hokage-sama, there was an infiltration, but it has been dealt with." The old man nodded sagely. "So I've heard, can you tell me what he might have been looking for." Yugao looked at the children, who looked completely lost as to what they should say. "I'm not sure, Hokage-sama, but I think it might have something to do with the incident in the forest last week.

"Did he say anything, to make you believe that?" He said taking another drag from his pipe. "No sir, I didn't get a chance to speak to him much." Nodding again, he turned his attention to the children. "What was your part in this, Naruto-kun." Naruto gulped nervously never had he seen the old man this serious, and he would be lying if he said it didn't worry him. "I heard a girl.. screaming." The Hokage got a bit of a surprised look on his face.

"Really, was that young Ayame, or was there another girl there I am unaware of." Naruto shook his head in the negative. "It wasn't Ayame, it was the girl that works at the grocery store." Naruto wasn't sure how else to describe her. "Good, so which grocery?" Naruto racked his brain trying to think of the actual name of the store. "I don't know, its the one by my apartment." The Hokage nodded understandingly, motioning with his hand.

As soon as he did so, a man with grey hair appeared dressed in a similar state to Yugao, but without the mask. "Now then Naruto do you know her name." He didn't but he made a show as if he was trying to remember anyway. "No, but she has black hair." The Hokage sighed, it wasn't much to go on, but that's why his Anbu captain was so useful. "Kakashi, go to the scene, see if you can't sniff out our last witness." Without a word the man known as Kakashi, disappeared leaving behind a swirling mass of leaves in his wake.

"I do get tired of them doing that." The old man sighed to himself, turning his attention back to Naruto. "Is there anything else you could tell me." Naruto had a lot to say, but he wasn't sure what was important and what wasn't. "He wore a headband with a scratch through it." The Hokage smiled at the child, encouraging him to continue. "And he could throw fire, and um... he said that he was trying to get something back." This made the Hokage raise an eyebrow.

"That is interesting, tell me Naruto-kun he didn't happen to say what this thing he needed to get back looked like." Naruto strained his memory as much as possible trying to recall everything the man had said, but eventually had to tell them that he hadn't said anything like that. "I can't remember everything, but I don't think he said anything like that." The Hokage accepted this answer, and Yugao took the break in their conversation to step forward, pulling the ring out of her pouch.

"I believe that he was trying to reclaim one of Chishiki's Sacred Artifact's." She placed the ring in the Hokage's hand. "I see that would be a problem, if an enemy village got their hands on such a thing." The Hokage said raising the ring up to his face, and slipping on an old pair of glasses. "You believe this is one as well?" Yugao nodded. "Yes sir, I believe that he was using this object to manipulate and create fire from nature chakra."

The Hokage's eyes widened a bit in surprise as he slipped the ring onto his finger. "Indeed there is quite a bit of power in this piece of jewelry." The old man said concentrating for a moment and managing to bring forth a small bit of flame from his finger tip. "I see, the children can go home." He turned his attention to Naruto and Ayame, speaking to both of them equally. "It shouldn't need to be said, but this incident is not to be talked about outside of my office."

Both children nodded simultaneously. "Good now if either of you think of anything else, don't hesitate to come see me, otherwise we will take of this, you shouldn't need to worry about it anymore." Ayame gave another nod and turned her wheelchair to leave the room, Naruto following shortly afterword. "Also Naruto-kun." The Hokage spoke one more time. "Yes sir." Naruto said trying his best to sound formal. "Have you had any luck in controlling your chakra yet?"

Naruto tried to think, and began to wonder if that surge of power he had felt before had been chakra. "Of course it was, fool." Naruto heard the deep voice rumble out from the depths of his mind. "Yeah, I think so anyway." Naruto said as the fox instructed him. "That's good, I think you'll make a fine addition to the shinobi forces in a few years." The Hokage said emptying the pipe in his hand of it's contents and refilling it.

"Thank you." Naruto thought about telling him, about the fox talking to him, but something told him not to, and that something was quite intimidating. "Keep your mouth shut boy, if they find out, they'll strengthen the seal, and I will have no way of bringing back your precious friend." With a quick bow Naruto left the room as well, chasing after Ayame. "Sir." Ayame started, having an internal debate with herself. "Earlier, I think I felt-" The Hokage waved his hand cutting her off. "I'm well aware, the boy was using 'Its' chakra today, but nothing I could do would matter, Naruto must decide for himself, what is truly important to him."

"His life as a citizen of Konoha, or the power that thing will no doubt dangle in front of him."

End.

A/N: I'm not getting much response, which is alright, but if you guys would help me with any mistakes in the story, that would be great.


	11. Mourning

Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 11

Mourning

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

Naruto stood off to the side, dressed in a black outfit that the Hokage had given him that morning, He could do little more than stare as they took a small pinch of Miru's ashes from a jar sprinkling them over the memorial stone in front of them. They had already buried the empty casket, as was tradition, though Miru himself was cremated. The adults had said it was to preserve village secrets or something like that.

"Today we add the name of a brave hero to this stone." The Hokage spoke aloud, even though he was an old man, he still had quite a bit of bass to his voice when he wanted to use it. "This boy risked his life to protect this village and two of his classmates, for this he shall remain a hero of the leave village from this day forward." Naruto knew that many of the people gathered in front of the Hokage believed that something entirely different had happened that day in the woods.

Naruto had accidently read the thought's of a few civilian's earlier that morning, and the popular thought was apparently that Naruto had in fact killed his friend, in some kind of psychotic demon rage, and that the story of an enemy shinobi being involved was a lie created by the Hokage to protect his favorite demon. These thought's angered Naruto of course, but he tried to ignore it, he would still do his best to protect them. "As long as their loyal to the leave village anyway." Naruto said to himself in a low whisper, of course as he was standing away from the rest of the group no one had heard him.

Naruto took notice of the fact that while they had been at the cemetery, neither of Miru's parents had shown up for the engraving. Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets as the Hokage's speech came to an end. "I don't even know why I came." The blonde muttered aloud, fairly confident that rumors of him being responsible for Miru's death would also spread through the shinobi ranks, and eventually the academy students as well.

"He's coming back, so feeling sad for him is pointless, the only thing I need to do is get stronger." Naruto continued talking to himself, before a deep voice interrupted his thoughts. He immediately recognized as the demon. "Exactly brat, get stronger and your precious friend will be back before you know it." Naruto nodded his head at the words only he could hear, looking down at the small indentation in his palm, that was the point of entry for the blood that had invaded his system that day.

The fox refused to tell him what gift he had received, saying that until Naruto got stronger it wouldn't matter as he would be unable to use it anyway. "Training is all that matters now." He said to himself walking off the training fields. Naruto didn't stop till he reached the separate training grounds that he had once shared with his friend, he hadn't got a chance to ask for the training equipment he wanted yet, so he decided to just go about the normal routine that he had started for himself, and while he was aware that this training wouldn't do much in the long run, it was the only way he knew to do things right now.

After a couple hours of his basic training, Naruto found himself once again completely out of breath laying on the grassy floor of the training field. Something about this feeling, the feeling of being so utterly exhausted made him happy, maybe it was because when he did it, it was as if his friend was still right next to him. "Boy..." Naruto jerked slightly at the sudden intrusion, the fox had shown that it didn't matter what Naruto was doing, he could easily invade his thoughts and speak directly into his mind.

"What is it, furball?" The fox growled deeply apparently not appreciating the nickname. "You will address me as master, and nothing else." There was a hard tone in the fox's already deep voice, and it was coupled with a sudden blinding pain, very similar to the pain he had been feeling back when he first started hearing thoughts. "It was you." Naruto said finally putting everything together, obviously if he had some kind of special power like Miru someone in the village would have already known about it and told him.

"Of course it was fool, I couldn't let my prison stay weak forever." Naruto wasn't sure how he felt about this, but his hopes of someday learning to block the fox from his mind now seemed much harder to accomplish. "The only way to speak with you, was to force your mind to become more powerful, thus I flooded your brain with my chakra." Naruto didn't know mush about things such as this, but that in particular didn't sound very safe.

"Wait, are you the reason I can't use chakra?" The fox laughed in its creepy way. "You really are a fool, why would I do something so pointless, your inability to properly form chakra, is a direct result of the forth Hokage's own foolishness." Naruto was definitely interested in knowing more about his chakra, but wasn't sure if he could believe everything the fox said. "That foolish man didn't pay enough attention, making it easy to infect you."

"Infect, what does that mean?" The fox laughed again. "Right before this village's precious hero, managed to reseal me in your tiny body, I was able to give you a little gift of my own." Naruto was a little hesitant but couldn't stop himself from asking. "What do you mean, what gift." Naruto got a flash of the monstrous creature smiling. "A gift that any human would, and has killed for." Naruto gulped audibly a strange kind of fear welling up inside of him.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto's voice cracked as he asked the question, the palms of his hands sweating a bit, he would have been lying had he said he wasn't scared of the fox's answer. "It's obvious isn't it, I made you into one of my kind." Naruto almost choked on the air as he took in the fox's information. "I made you into a chakra being, a demon, just like me, it was the best course of action after all, I have already spent more than enough of my time as a prisoner, trapped inside of a human body."

"You mean I- I'm not human." Naruto's heart was racing, he almost felt like his chest would explode. "Did you really think you were?" The fox let out another laugh this one somehow darker and more sinister than the others. "The second you tried to use chakra your body was flooded with demonic energy, changing your very being into something entirely different." The fox enjoyed the panic that Naruto was experiencing, but decided he needed to calm down lest serious damage be done to his body on account of the demonic chakra that began to leak out unconsciously.

"Settle down boy!" Naruto jumped as the fox's voice rose to be quite loud. "You are still at least half human." That didn't help much but Naruto did start to calm down, mostly because of his energy running low. "Now then, we need to get started." Naruto took a moment to catch his breath. "Get started what?" The fox let out a loud sound that almost sounded like a sigh. "This is why I don't like dealing with children, they take so long to catch on."

"Just tell me stupid fox!" Naruto finally lost his temper, but he was immediately brought back to his knees by the intense pain that pulsated through his head. "I said to call me Master!" The fox growled out, Naruto nodded weakly trying to block out the pain. "Yes Master." It killed him a little inside to call the source of all his misfortune master, but he did it anyway. "Good, now I'll teach you." The fox could easily tell how the boy felt about him, but it didn't care as long as the boy did as he was told the boy could feel however he wished.

"Teach me what?" Naruto was careful to keep any attitude out of his voice, the intense pain already enough to make him lose any disobedience. "How to use the gift I've given you, boy." Naruto taking the fox's instructions headed back towards the village. "Good, for now you'll be targeting civilians, after all ninja will still be a bit tricky." The word targeting made Naruto a bit uncertain, something the fox could pick up on quickly.

"Calm yourself, you will not be hurting any of the pathetic creatures." Everything the fox said was filled with an intense hatred so strong that Naruto felt sick to his stomach. "Look there." Naruto looked in the direction he could feel the fox was instructing him to. "That man, I want you to find out what he's thinking. Unsure but willing to try, Naruto strained as hard as he could probing into the man's thoughts.

"He wants to have sukiyaki for dinner." The fox let out a sound similar to that of a sigh, and Naruto took a moment to move into a nearby alley, in an attempt to keep himself unnoticed. "Are you even trying boy? You will have to dig deeper than just the surface, to find out the man's true secrets." Naruto tried again putting everything he could muster into the act. "It's no use." He said letting out a haggard breath.

"You have to reach out with your chakra, force it into the man's body and grab the information you want." Naruto shuddered at the thought of using chakra, the memory of feeling like his body was ripping itself apart, still fairly fresh in his mind. "I don't know, I mean-" Another shock of pain ran through the boy, a slight whimper escaping his lips in the process. "Stop hesitating!" The fox growled. "Your body should be use to the demonic energy at this point, at least enough for this." The fox explained slightly calmer now.

Without any real choice, Naruto went through the exercise that Miru had taught him to access his chakra, and just moments later he could feel the sudden rush of power that he had felt the night before. "Over time you will learn to keep your chakra active at all times." Naruto once again reached out with his power imagining his chakra penetrating the rather bland looking civilian man's skull. "But for now, just focus on activating it when necessary." A sudden rush of information flooded through Naruto's brain, along with a emotions that he could tell were not his own.

"He's angry about something." Naruto clutched his head trying to sort out all the information. "What is he angry about?" The fox probed, spurning Naruto forward. "His wife... she did something, and he's upset." The fox let a malevolent grin spread across his muzzle. "What did she do?" Naruto kept pushing further and further, beginning to feel the man's anger overpower him, influencing him. "She's cheating on him." Naruto wasn't sure what cheating meant but he could tell that the man was fighting with himself about what he should do.

"Good, now let's see if you can add a thought into his simple brain." Naruto had no clue how to go about doing that, and was about to ask before the fox spoke again. "Just think real hard about something, and focus on using your chakra to transfer that thought to him, it's easy." Doing as he was told again Naruto thought about the only thing he could, sending that thought into the man's head. "Nothings... happening.." Naruto felt like his head would explode any second, and was forced to release the connection he had with the man.

Naruto felt the anger fade almost instantaneously, and thought he was left out of breath, and covered in sweat there was no residual pain from the experience. "That will be enough for now." The fox said, with Naruto letting out a sigh of relief. "However everyday from this moment on, you must practice this technique, with enough someday you may even be able to control people." The fox laughed at the prospect of Naruto forcing someone to do something against their will, though on the opposite end Naruto felt sick at the idea.

The fox told Naruto that he wouldn't bother him again, until his powers had grown, not that this bothered the boy in the slightest. Now Naruto wondered the streets, no real direction in mind, he didn't feel like going home, but had nothing else to do at the same time. "I wonder, what its like to die?" He questioned aloud, Miru's face filled with fear flashing through his memory, along with the last words he had heard the boy speak.

After walking for what could have been hours, Naruto found himself atop the Hokage monument overlooking the village. The sun had just began to set, casting a shadow over the whole village, most probably would have thought the view to be pretty. Naruto couldn't help but find the shadow slowly creeping along the village to be poetic in a way, for all the bright and shiny smiles that people showed each other, all Naruto ever seemed to see was their shadow's, the dark side that everyone had inside of them.

Naruto shook his head as though to get rid of the thoughts, he didn't like thinking of people that way, he always tried to focus on the positive. Even though lately the only thing he could be positive about was how much the people in his own village hated the very thought of looking in his general direction. "It doesn't matter, someday they'll see me as a hero" He said aloud to himself, though somewhere another voice deep in his subconscious told him that they wouldn't, that there was no point in trying, that no matter what the loneliness that took over his life would never truly disappear.

Again Naruto's gaze was drawn to the small indent in the palm of his hand, and when he looked at it he couldn't help but think. "What does the fox want me to do?" He knew that the fox wouldn't tell him, at least not yet, he had made that perfectly clear. Naruto knew that it didn't matter either, no matter the cost he would do it, as long as it meant he could see his friend alive and smiling again. He would do whatever the fox asked of him.

Naruto stood there for most of the night, he didn't feel like going back to his apartment, sure Yugao would probably be there making dinner as she seemed to do. Instead he watched as the entire village was consumed by the darkness of the night, hoping that he could trust the fox. He did eventually go home, though the moon had almost completed it's cycle by then, the only thing he wanted was to learn how to get the feelings out, to turn them off.

The next day found Naruto sitting through another one of Iruka's long winded lectures, struggling just to keep his eyes open. He had decided to wait until class was over to ask for his training equipment, and the time was almost there. Lunch had already passed and the only thing left in the lesson was the physical development training portion of the day, which never really took to long. Naruto slowly followed the rest of the class outside, feeling lethargic, which was quite odd for him, as he was typically full to the brim with energy.

He did come across a small problem however, one that he hadn't thought of before, and that was that he no longer had a partner to do his exercises with, and while to most it wouldn't seem like a big deal, to Naruto it was just another reminder that he wasn't able to see his friend anymore. "I'll be your partner." The words were spoken in a familiar lazy manner, and punctuated by a yawn. Naruto wasn't expecting the sudden interruption, but that didn't mean it wasn't appreciated, Shikamaru was actually one of the only other students Naruto had ever had a conversation with.

Speaking of which, Naruto figured now was as good a time as any. "Hey Shikamaru, do you have any of those shuriken traps left." Naruto asked as he stretched out his back, locking his arms with Shikamaru's and lifting him, to help him stretch as well. "Yeah, I think I do." Shikamaru's tone belied his interest. "Can I borrow some?" Shikamaru sighed a bit. "Its troublesome, but I don't think my dad would mind too much."

"How are you doing?" Naruto had expected the question it was one he had heard quite a bit recently, and without thinking he gave the same robotic answer he did everytime. "I'm fine." Short and simple an answer that didn't invite any extra conversation. Naruto had never thought there would be a moment when he wouldn't want to talk to people, just a few weeks ago he would have done anything for this kind of attention.

Shikamaru seemed to take the hint and switched the subject. "What do you even need shuriken traps for?" Naruto didn't see a point in hiding it, after all he thought that it was a fantastic idea. "I'm going to set them up to fire at me, so I can work on my reflexes." Shikamaru stared at the blonde like he had jus said one of the dumbest things he had ever heard. "Are you stupid?" Naruto's confidence fell a little at that point.

"You don't think it'll work?" Shikamaru palmed his face their stretches completed. "Even if you don't die, every time you use them you would have to set them up again." Naruto hadn't thought of that, but it did make sense. "So your saying that I can't get stronger with them?" Naruto had really thought that it would work, but Shikamaru was one of the smartest people he knew and if he said it wouldn't he was probably right.

"It's not impossible, but it doesn't sound efficient." Naruto let out a sigh, his hopes crushed rather effectively. "Why don't you just ask Iruka for extra training?" Shikamaru suggested, saying it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Will he actually do that?" Naruto didn't know that was even an option. "I don't know, but it wouldn't hurt to ask, you can be a bit of a drag sometimes man, I try to understand how your brain works, but all it does is make mine hurt." Shikamaru wasn't trying to be mean but he was used to speaking his mind and wasn't about to stop.

Naruto took Shikamaru's words in stride, hell he didn't know how his brain worked half the time, and he wasn't about to give up, all he had to do was figure out how to make it to where the traps would reload themselves. After that, find a way to make them so that he wouldn't have to set the trigger each time as well, but before that, he would take Shikamaru's advice and ask for extra training, he at least seem to not hate him as much as most of the adults.

So Naruto and Shikamaru finished up their physical exercises, thirty minutes later the class headed back inside. Afterwords Iruka went straight back into lecture mode for the rest of class, and while Naruto knew that a ninja had to know the things he was teaching, something about Iruka's voice made it almost impossible to pay attention. The bell rang, filling the whole school with the rather obnoxious sound, and Naruto walked up to his teachers desk.

"Hey, sensei?" Iruka looked up from the papers he was busy grading, not at all surprised to see Naruto in front of him. "Ah.. Naruto, how are you doing?" That question again, it was beginning to grind on Naruto's nerves, but he had a purpose for talking to his teacher, and he wouldn't let himself get distracted from it. "Do you think, I can get some extra training?" Iruka let out a sigh, which made Naruto think he might not have been the first one to ask this question.

"I can help you with a training regiment, but I can't teach you any jutsu, until you make it to the second year." Iruka had probably given that answer a countless number of times. "That's fine, as long as it gets me stronger." Naruto answered with that determined look in his eye, something that Iruka wasn't used. Usually students only asked for extra training in the hope to learn actual jutsu and when he would tell them he wasn't allowed to teach them that they would quickly lose interest. "Seriously, alright I'll meet you after school tomorrow."

Naruto left the academy feeling excited, it was odd that just the thought of getting stronger was enough to fill him with energy. Making his way towards the training grounds, he remembered his promise, so stopping he fill a bottle of water, he wasn't sure how plants worked and hoped that they were still alive, but he figured that if nothing else Mitsuko was watering them as well. Naruto found it strange that the fox had actually not bothered him all day, especially after the day before when he couldn't get the thing to leave him alone.

He was finding it easier and easier to get through his workout sessions, something that he wasn't sure was good or bad, after all it meant that he was actually getting stronger, but it also meant that he would have to start working even harder to keep it up. Before too long he found himself walking through the humid forest, on his way to Miru's secret garden, he wasn't prepared for the scene that awaited him, and wondered if he had just came to the garden first if things would have been different.

"Mitsuko!" The name ripped itself from his throat, as he rushed towards the body laying motionlessly on the ground in front the herb garden. "Please, you have to be okay!" He grabbed the woman's shoulder turning her over and staring into the woman's completely lifeless eyes. He knew that she was gone, he could tell that much but that didn't mean he wanted to accept it. Pulling Mitsuko onto his back he rushed back out of the forest not stopping till he reached Konoha's main gate.

"Kid, what's going on." The shinobi on guard duty said, stopping Naruto short of entering the village. "Move, she has to go to the hospital." The guard didn't react to Naruto at first, instead checking the woman's pulse. "Give me the woman." The guards voice was calm, but still held an air of urgency to it. Naruto didn't hesitate to do what he said, letting the him gently take Mitsuko. "I'll take her." With that the guard took off quickly running through the streets of Konoha at speeds that Naruto could never hope to keep up with.

Reaching the hospital he wasn't exactly surprised to find out that no one was willing to tell him anything. "Just take a seat, the Anbu may want to talk to you." Was the only thing anyone had said to him, and that came from the gate guard who had taken the woman from him. Doing as he was told, he sat in a small chair in the waiting room. A while later he watched as the familiar figure of Ryouta walked through the doors, a look of panic on his face that just didn't look right on his normally stoic face.

The Anbu did arrive a while later, and after asking Naruto a few general questions told him he could go home, but he refused, saying. "I'm not going anywhere till I know what's going on." While the hospital employees had asked him be forcibly removed, they had refused, on the simple fact that he had not actually broken any law, as it was still visiting hours. So Naruto sat and waited, almost five hours till he saw an obviously distraught Ryouta walk towards the exit.

Though he could tell bothering the man was probably not the best idea, he couldn't help himself the nervousness in his gut from not knowing worse than anything he could think of. "Mr. Takai?" Naruto's voice was quiet, the hesitance in his tone obvious. "Naruto." Ryouta said stoically not in the way that Naruto was use to however. "You were the one, who found her weren't you?" His eye's frightened Naruto, not because of some kind of rage or anything, but because they were the eye's of a man who had been broken.

"Is she alright?" Naruto forced the words out, not sure how else to ask. Naruto had never seen a grown man cry before, and hoped he would never have to again, even a year later he would remember the scene. "Mitsuko's dead."

End.

A/N: I'm not overly happy with how this chapter turned out, but I don't have a lot of time for editing, also while I'm not saying it will happen next weeks chapter might be a day or two late, on account of my work season is starting to pick up, and if I can't find the time too write a certain amount each it completely screws the schedule I have worked out for this.


	12. Time Passes

Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 12

Time Passes

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

Naruto sat in the classroom staring lazily out the window next to him, not much had happened in the past year. Naruto still found it difficult to understand his classmates, and while he did occasionally speak with Shikamaru he wasn't sure he could really call him a friend. 'Miru died almost a year ago today.' The thought stuck in his mind, he hadn't forgot about his first friend and he doubted he ever would. Mitsuko had taken her own life over it, and Naruto still wondered if he had told her about maybe bringing him back, if she would still be alive.

"I don't know why you insist on worrying about these pathetic humans, they are far beneath us." Naruto ignored the fox's comment, he had heard plenty just like it. Everyday for the last year Naruto had taken training to the extreme, focusing on both increasing his strength through Iruka's extra lessons and his mental acuity through the fox's coaching. Even so he couldn't be sure if he was any stronger than he was before he started, sure he felt stronger, but he hadn't truly been able to test it. At least not until today

. "Okay first sparring match is Naruto Uzumaki versus Sasuke Uchiha." Iruka read out from the random slips of paper he had pulled from his name bucket. Naruto had been waiting for this day for quite the long time, the original reason he had wanted to get stronger, a rematch with the perfect student, Sasuke Uchiha. Though to be fair, Naruto's grade weren't much farther behind than Sasuke's now, only due to Naruto's ability to 'lift' the answers to tests from some of the smarter kids in class. He did take pride in the fact that other than his first match against Sasuke he had yet to lose any spar whatsoever.

"Take your places." Iruka announced both students following his instructions immediately. Naruto stared into the eyes of his opponent, long gone was the cheerful smiling Sasuke replaced by an ever stoic image. The boy had not smile in almost a year, and while Naruto was not sure what had happened, he did notice that not long after Mitsuko's death Sasuke's brother had stopped walking him to school. "Bout time, I've been waiting for a chance to kick your ass." Naruto couldn't help but try to rile his opponent, he did it in pretty much every match.

"Hn.. Whatever." The other boy blew off Naruto's bravado looking entirely uninterested. Naruto didn't let it bother him, Sasuke hadn't had a genuine reaction to anything in a long time. "Now the seal of confrontation." Iruka said having waited until after the two had said what they wanted, again both boy's followed instructions. "Good... Begin!" Iruka gave the motion for the two to start. Neither Naruto nor Sasuke moved immediately, waiting for the other to make a mistake. Suddenly Sasuke jumped forward launching a strong strike directly for Naruto's exposed middle.

"Too easy." Naruto muttered under his breath, moving ever so slightly to the side, Sasuke's strike missing its target and overextending. Naruto took the moment to quickly knee the dark haired boy in the side. Sasuke did his best to stay standing digging his heals into the ground and attempting a follow up backhand strike that Naruto ducked underneath. Naruto wanting the fight to last awhile backed up and allowed Sasuke to regain his bearings.

"Everyone calls you the Ace of the Academy, and this is the best you can do, I won't lie I expected better." Sasuke tightened his fists, trying to not let the agitation he already felt show on his face. Iruka could tell that Naruto had let Sasuke see a false opening, and couldn't help but feel a bit proud at how much the boy had advanced. Both boys surged forward at the same time Sasuke lashing out with a kick that was supposed to strike Naruto's kneecap. Naruto sidestepped deftly, before countering with a hard right to Sasuke's face, forcing him a couple steps backward.

Sasuke quickly wiped the blood from his lip, before getting back into his fighting stance. Naruto stood to the side of the ring allowing Sasuke to come up with a plan, Naruto decided against reading the boys thoughts, after all he wanted the fight to be fair, and any kind of jutsu were expressly forbidden. Sasuke approached cautiously this time, keeping his attention on the subtle moves of Naruto's body. "Anytime Ace." As soon as the words left Naruto's lips Sasuke moved throwing a combination of punches that Naruto actually had some trouble keeping up with.

Blocking the final of Sasuke's strikes Naruto countered with a flurry of his own, that Sasuke, while not quite as dexterous was able to evade with a bit of effort. Sasuke taking his own chance to counter attack, went down into a sweep trying to quickly end the round. Naruto on instinct alone raised his leg up and quickly brought it down on top of the other childs extended leg, luckily the force wasn't enough to actually break Sasuke's leg, but it did through him off balance enough for him to fall fully to the floor, ending round one.

Iruka was surprised at Sasuke's willingness to continue, especially with him now limping. Iruka thought it rather obvious how outmatched Sasuke really was, but unless Sasuke was in actual danger he was not aloud to force them to stop. "Ready begin!" Iruka once again gave the motion to fight, and once again, neither of the children rushed in. "You okay Ace, I wouldn't want your fan squad to jump me on my way home." Naruto wasn't sure why he was being so confrontational it really wasn't how he usually acted.

"Worry about yourself loser, you'll be lucky if you can walk home after this." Naruto was a little surprised as were the other students around them, and rightfully so Sasuke hadn't spoken so many words in one sentence in over a year. You could almost feel the tension in the air at this point, as Sasuke glared heatedly at the blonde, and Naruto just gave a smug grin back. Almost to the point of foaming at the mouth Sasuke launched himself forward, much faster than before despite his damaged leg, Naruto was actually caught off guard, a stray punch striking his chin.

Naruto fought back with his own strikes after that, neither children even bothering to dodge at this point, the fight becoming more of a brawl than a spar. One rather strong punch from Naruto made Sasuke take a step back his vision blurring, Naruto pressed the advantage with a quick combo to the boys midsection. Sasuke fought the urge to clutch at his stomach, shaking his head to clear the haze, Naruto being the nice guy he was backed up once again to let the boy catch his breath.

Sasuke didn't seem happy about it however. "I don't need your pity loser." Naruto didn't care in the least. "It's not pity Ace, I just want some extra time to beat your face in." Sasuke clenched his teeth, grinding them back and forth. He hadn't ever met someone who was able to infuriate him so easily, and as such wasn't really familiar with being able to control the emotion. In his anger he rushed forward again going for a throat jab, that was evaded and countered with two punch combo, that stuck Sasuke in the face and more than likely blacked one of his eyes.

"I won't lose." Sasuke's face was beginning to swell, but even still he continued to fight, Lashing out with a series of fast kicks, that Naruto couldn't do much more than dodge. One eventually landed hitting Naruto square in the chest, forcing the blonde backwards. Naruto grinned, Sasuke was definitely a better opponent than any of the other student's, this was without a doubt the hardest spar he had been in to date. "Too bad, cause I ain't gonna lose either." Naruto said ducking under a roundhouse kick that was aimed towards his head, and sweeping Sasuke's leg out from under him.

Iruka called the point, and Sasuke angrily got up off the ground, but not before, striking the dirt with his fist. "Point Naruto, final round... Begin." Sasuke wasn't sure what made him do it, just that the rather self satisfied grin on Naruto's face made him more angry than he could remember being. So as soon as the final round of the match began, Sasuke slammed his hands together, going through the hand seals with a practiced ease and efficiency. Iruka recognized the seals, well before Naruto, and acting as quickly as he could jumped between the two, grabbing Sasuke's fingers, that were already forming the tiger seal, and restraining him before he could finish the jutsu.

"What the hell were you thinking!" Iruka yelled forming a seal with his free hand, that had the effect of paralyzing the young dark haired boy. Iruka released his grip on the boy's hand, afterwords Sasuke dropped rather unceremoniously to the hard ground, flailing around but making no progress in freeing his trapped limbs. "What did you do to him sensei?" Naruto stared at the completely restrained child, and idly wondered how strong Iruka really was.

"It's a sealing ninjutsu, I took away the ability for him to move his limbs." Naruto was even more amazed, the only teacher he had other than Iruka had been the fox, and he never wanted to talk about anything, everytime Naruto would ask about learning any kind of ninjutsu, the fox would tell him to get stronger. "Can you teach me?" All the students eyes were on Iruka waiting for his answer. "Not until after you've graduated at least, none of you have even learned the basic jutsu yet." Iruka explained afterwords turning his attention to his restrained student.

"Well now Sasuke, how about you tell me what you were planning?" The dark haired boy did little more than turn his nose up at his sensei. Iruka was under rather strict orders to keep a close eye on the last Uchiha, not that he knew why, and knew that he would have to write a report on this. That was something that bothered him, an incident like this was always taken seriously, and worst case scenario Sasuke may be kicked out of the academy.

'Such a waste of talent.' Iruka thought shaking his head solemnly. 'I hope they let him off easy for this one.' The child's only saving grace may be that he had most if not all of the civilian council on his side, where as Naruto was generally hated by everyone. "Class is over for today." Iruka called turning to look over all his students. "I need to take Sasuke to the Hokage's office." Making another quick seal, Sasuke was suddenly able to use his limbs again, though immediately after Iruka had grabbed him by the back of his shirt, and began dragging him off school grounds.

Naruto wasn't sure what to do, but after a second Iruka looked back towards him. "You should come to." In Naruto's opinion he was in the old man's office way to much, for someone that never did anything wrong, it seemed that he was getting lectured every other day for things people said he was doing. 'But what's the worst that could happen, I mean I'm the victim here.' So with that thought Naruto shrugged his shoulders and began slowly following his sensei through the village. "Let me go Iruka." The young Uchiha squirmed, but didn't look like he would be getting his way anytime soon.

"You did mean Iruka-sensei, didn't you Sasuke." Iruka said, reminded Sasuke of the proper respect he should show his teacher. "Whatever..." Sasuke muttered, moving his feet to keep pace with Iruka so that he was no longer being dragged. Upon reaching the office, Naruto locked eyes with the same secretary that he remembered always working there, idly wondering what it would take to get the rather rude girl fired. He shot a glare at the woman, only to match the one that she was already sending his way. Sure he was at least partly demon, but that didn't mean he had to put up with all the crap that the villagers continuously tried to shove in his face.

"We need to see the Hokage." Iruka informed her, the glare dropped rather quickly, and she turned a smile toward the academy instructor. "Of course, Iruka-san." Naruto felt he was going to puke as the civilian woman's strong attraction to the chunin, overpowered his senses. Focusing he blocked out her feelings, a neat trick that the fox had taught to him early on, to ensure that his emotions could stay his own. Walking through the large double doors, Naruto could feel the old man's gaze travel to him first. "I didn't do anything." Naruto blurted out waving his arms in front of him, as though to placate the Hokage and avoid any unjust punishment.

"Are you sure, I feel I hear that a lot." The Hokage said a hint of mirth in his voice. "Such as when all the chunin instructors desks were mysteriously filled with tear gas." Naruto was about to say something back when Iruka cleared his throat, to indicate he wished to speak. "Hokage-sama, that is not the reason for today's visit." The Hokage turned his kind gaze to the instructor and signaled for him to go on. "Today during sparring, Sasuke here." Iruka pushed the boy towards the Hokage slightly as though to emphasize his point.

"Attempted to use a fatal jutsu against one of his classmates." The Hokage's eyebrow arched, a sign of his interest. "Really you say attempted, as in he failed." Iruka nodded. "Yes sir, I managed to restrain him before he could do any damage." The Hokage reached into the top drawer of his desk pulling out his old pipe, before filling it with tobacco, or at least what Iruka hoped was tobacco. "I see, so do you have any proof of what jutsu he planned to use." Iruka seemed stumped by the question, while the Hokage lit a match and held it to the pipe, the stench of tobacco filling the small room. "Well no, but I know the seals he used."

The Hokage shook his head, inhaling deeply from his pipe and letting it out before speaking. "Was there any other witnesses?" Iruka was getting a bit anxious as he felt as though the Hokage was pressuring him. "Well no but-" The Hokage let out a long sigh. "Then I'm afraid there is nothing I can do." Iruka starred at the Hokage as though he had grown a second head. "What do you mean, he could've killed Naruto. " Shaking his head sadly the Hokage emptied his pipe, before going to refill it again.

"That is a shame, without any proof there is nothing I can do." The smile on Sasuke's face said it all, he was pretty much untouchable and he knew it. "But." The old man turned his gaze to the young Uchiha, his eyes hardening and the air in the room growing dense. "If you ever were to hurt one of your precious comrades, Uchiha, I would like you to remember that the punishment for such a thing is death." He said it calmly, with no rise in his voice. Even so Sasuke felt as though he could barely breath and all he wanted was to run from the room.

The tension was broken by Naruto. "What the hell was that!?" He couldn't keep the excitement from his voice. "Can you teach me?" Iruka and the Hokage let out a sigh at the same time, with the Hokage raising one of his hands to rub his temple, while simultaneously putting his pipe down on the desk. "Maybe when your older." Naruto was willing to accept that for now, and was fully intent on holding the Hokage to it. "Now then, Sasuke.. I don't want to hear of anything like this again, do you understand."

Sasuke nodded slowly, he hadn't felt anything that powerful since the night his family was killed, and it was bringing some memories back that he had been trying to forget for the last year. "Yes sir." Sasuke said in a small voice, honestly a little afraid of the old man now, he had never seen anything other than the kind smile that the third was known for. "Good.. then you may leave, go straight home, I don't want any trouble." Sasuke nodded his acceptance before making a hasty retreat.

Naruto was about to follow before the Hokage held him up. "Wait just a second Naruto-kun." Naruto hung his head slightly as he turned back towards the old man. "What's up?" Naruto asked a little confused, they had already established that he was the victim. One thing about Naruto's ability was that the stronger the shinobi the harder it was to read them, at this point Naruto could only really read the thoughts of the other academy students, well that and the civilians. Naruto made a conscious effort not to read the thoughts of the other academy students.

Not out of respect mind you, more because the things they thought about were either their parents or how much they hated him, because of things their parents had said. Honestly he couldn't remember ever stealing babies from their cribs, or killing naughty children who didn't do their chores, but those were a couple of the more popular things they had been told. "I want you to know, that just because I didn't punish Sasuke doesn't mean I condone his actions... I don't want you to think that people in this village can try to injure you and not pay the price."

Naruto hadn't been expecting that one. "Relax old man, I never thought that, its not like you can control everybody anyway." Sure when Sasuke had been let off the hook he thought it to be complete 'bullshit' but he also understood that Hokage's weren't all powerful god like beings, they had laws they had to follow as well, it just so happened that the law wasn't always fair. "Good." The old man picked his pipe back up lighting it once again. "If anyone tries anything to hurt you, I would appreciate it if you would tell me."

The Hokage wasn't supposed to play favorites, but he would've been lying if he said he didn't have a soft spot in his heart for the little blonde orphan. "No problem old man, will do." Naruto said with a large grin, anyone that was looking could probably tell that it was fake, but the Hokage overlooked it all the same. "You can go then." Naruto gave a quick bow, a rarity when it came to him, and shot out the door. "Iruka.. I want you to keep watching Sasuke, if he does anything else like this I want to know immediately." The Hokage said, emptying his pipe again.

"Of course sir." With that Iruka also took his leave, allowing the Hokage to be alone. "I wish I knew what to do." He sighed his face tired, his age showing. Naruto knew that no matter what Sasuke wouldn't get in trouble, and time proved him right. No matter how many times Sasuke would let his anger get the better of him, and come close to hurting someone. The Hokage would keep letting him off with warnings, it began to get suspicious but Naruto being a child had little he could do to change anything.

Almost three years have passed since then, and Naruto still kept mostly to himself, he wasn't completely ostracized from his classmates anymore, but the majority still didn't like him. Shikamaru had become the closest thing he could call a friend in this time, others being people he met through the lazy boy, such as Chouji Akimichi, a rather large child, with a bit of an anger problem when it came to his weight, and Kiba Inuzuka, a boy with an ego that easily rivaled Sasuke, but on the plus side of being a generally nice person unlike said Uchiha.

After four full years of training Naruto was fairly confident in his abilities, at this point he was easily able to read the thoughts of even chunin level shinobi, and push thoughts on genin. The fox hadn't taught him much more than that, but what he had was invaluable in Naruto's opinion. After all if it weren't for his mind reading he wouldn't do nearly as well on the written tests, Naruto was always careful however, to only read the first layer of thoughts when it came to his classmates. Not only was he entirely uninterested in their private lives, he didn't like knowing what people actually thought of him, he was happy living in blissful ignorance.

Naruto had still not gotten the fox's approval when it came to whatever had to be done to resurrect his now long dead friend, even after all these years however Naruto had not lost any of the drive to do so. "It's my final year starting today." Naruto said as he left his small run down apartment, Naruto had done a few things to spruce the place up over the years, including painting the interior a light orange color, something that Yugao had commented burned her eyes, whatever that meant, Naruto actually enjoyed the color personally.

Speaking of Yugao about a year ago, the Hokage decided that Naruto no longer needed a full time body guard, as such Yugao was reentered into the normal Anbu corps. She would still try to visit as much as possible but Naruto understood how busy she was, it had actually been almost a month since he had last seen her at this point. "Don't get too excited kid." The fox rumbled in the back of his skull, while not friends his tenant and him were at least on better terms.

"After all, you barely managed to pass the finals last year." The fox loved reminding him of such things, but he wasn't wrong. Last years exam had included having to perform the clone jutsu, the only jutsu of the three that Naruto seemed completely incapable of doing, he knew why of course, but that didn't mean he had any way to counter it, and increasing his chakra control to a point suitable was almost like asking him to walk on water. In the very least it wasn't going to happen anytime soon, at least as far as he could tell.

Walking through the village Naruto saw many familiar faces, ones he had been seeing almost everyday of his life. To most children this would be comforting, but to Naruto who was forced to take their disdainful looks everyday it was anything but. Ever since that day Iruka hadn't let Naruto and Sasuke spar, something about it being to dangerous, either way Naruto thought it was unfair, no matter how many other students who's faces he smashed into the ground nothing felt quite as good as bringing the Uchiha to his knees.

Naruto caught glimpse of a familiar pineapple like hair style and ran ahead to catch up to his kind of friend. "Hey Shikamaru!" Naruto yelled causing the boy to stop and turn his way. "How can you have so much energy in the mornings." The lazy boy sighed, and simultaneously yawned somehow. "And I can't believe how little energy you have, especially after all this training we've been through." Shikamaru just shrugged in response, leaving no real room for Naruto to keep the conversation going, as such the rest of their walk was in silence.

Naruto did notice one thing as they reached the academy however. "Hey wheres Chouji?" Naruto looked around. Normally the large boy was quick to join Shikamaru on the way to school, but Naruto hadn't seen hide nor hair of the boy. "It's troublesome but he said there were some clan things he had to do today, I think that the school let him have the first day off." Naruto nodded he supposed that it made sense though he didn't have a clue about anything to do with the clans. "It's not like everyone doesn't already know everybody anyway."

Shikamaru nodded his head to Naruto's statement. "Yeah no one would be able to enter the academy in the final year anyway." They had no idea how wrong they were. "Welcome class we have a new student joining our class today." Iruka said from his position behind standing behind his desk. Almost as if on cue a young girl that looked just slightly younger than any of them entered, a large book under one arm. "My name is Mikomi." She didn't specify if it was her first or last name, just walking over to the empty seat beside Naruto and sitting down.

End.

A/N: I managed to keep schedule, something I at least am happy about, within the next couple of chapters I plan to make it to the graduation test, but before that I need to introduce my new OC, while I had planned to include her later, throwing her in to the story this early was very spur of the moment. Hopefully everything works out with it, only time will tell, most of the time this story seems like it has a mind of its own, just when I think I've got it under control, it says screw you and takes off on its own, anyway I hope people continue to enjoy this story.

P.S. Please read and review.


	13. New Student

Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 13

New Student

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

Naruto wasn't sure why the girl had decided to sit next to him, even if she were a new addition to the village, she had to notice all the hostility the other students directed his way, doubled with the fact that he was sitting alone away from the rest of the students. "Hi.. I'm Naruto Uzumaki." The girl looked at him for a moment before turning her head away. Her very light blonde hair shook with the motion, it came down to her lower back it seemed. Her eyes were a lighter blue than his own, though not quite the teal color of Ino Yamanaka's eyes, Naruto still thought it was a beautiful color.

She was short, very much so easily the smallest in the class, she could almost pass for a first year. "I already said my name, and I don't like to repeat myself." There it was, if the girl was pretty then you'd be sure to find the ugliness somewhere inside of her, and Naruto might have already done so. "If you don't have anything important to say, then please don't speak with me." If Naruto were anybody else he might have been upset but the fact was that he was actually quite use to being treated this way, and as such it didn't bother him much.

Placing the large leather bound book that she had brought to class on the desk in front of her, she proceeded to sit perfectly still for the rest of the class, not speaking to anybody, not taking notes, just not doing much of anything. Naruto had thought of trying to start a conversation with the girl, but she had already made her stance on pointless talking, and how she preferred not to do it. So for as long as class dragged on Naruto continued to wonder about the girl sitting beside him. Occasionally he would allow his gaze to wander, but only for very short moments, not sure how the girl would react to being starred at.

Finally the bell rang, Naruto stretched out his limbs as he stood from his seat, lunch didn't last very long and he would only make it to Ichiraku if he hurried. "You boy.. take me somewhere to eat." Naruto wasn't sure he heard the girl right at first, but sure enough she stood just slightly in front of him, her own eyes burrowing eyes into his. "What?" Naruto had thought the girl already hated him, and here she was asking him on a date, well kind of anyway. "I am unfamiliar with this village and as such need accompaniment so I do not lose my way."

The way the girl spoke sounded very odd to Naruto, like she was trying to hard to sound formal. "Sure I guess, I was just going to the ramen stand." Naruto would allow the girl to tag along with him, but he was not even about to change his plans for her. "What is ramen?" Naruto could hardly believe his ears as the words left the small blonde girls mouth. "What do you mean 'what is ramen' ramen is everything that people need to survive!" Naruto hadn't even realized he had rose his voice, till all the stares from his classmates brought him back to reality.

"Right, let's get going." Naruto said quietly grabbing the short girls hand and dragging her towards the door. They barely made it through the door, before the girl wrenched her hand out of Naruto's rather firm grip. "Who said you could touch me." She didn't sound angry but Naruto knew from experience that didn't mean she wasn't. "Sorry." Naruto muttered, turning to walk down the hall, and out of the building. "Just don't let it happen again." Mikomi spoke as she caught up to the boy, obviously still intent on going with him.

The walk was a rather awkward experience for Naruto, he wasn't sure what to say to the girl as he didn't know anything about her. "Your name is Naruto correct?" Naruto turned his head to look at the girl. "Yeah." The girl nodded in a way that suggested that she had just found out some type of great secret. She didn't speak any further letting Naruto just wonder why she had acted so strangely. Looking over to the girl he noticed that she just barely came up to his shoulders, and considering he was far from the tallest kid in class that meant that she was maybe only four-three.

Another thing that caught his eye was the book she carried under one arm, easily one of the largest he had ever seen. "What is that?" Naruto said pointing at the leather clad object. The girl turned her head to look at him. "It's a book." She said it in a tone that made it obvious that she thought him to be ignorant, something that did in fact rub him the wrong way. "Okay why are you such a bitch?" Naruto hadn't meant to say it aloud but the damage was already done. To Naruto's surprise the girl actually seemed to think about the question.

"I suppose that its because I am not very fond of men." The matter of fact way she said, along with the way she freely admitted to acting in such a manner, was something that Naruto was not used to. "Does that mean you're gay..." Naruto thought the subject might be a little personal, but he really did have the problem of saying whatever came to his mind at the moment. The girls face flushed rather quickly, and her eyes widened. "What! Of course not... I am not fond of women either." She stopped looking at him, now more determined to keep her eyes on the road.

The rest of the walk was done in a rather awkward silence, and after a few more minutes of walking the two had reached Ichiraku. One girl in particular was working behind the counter when the duo entered, someone Naruto knew very well. "Ayame, is your old man working today." The girls face brightened almost immediately, as she heard Naruto's voice. "Naruto, where have you been, it's been like two weeks since you visited." The happy look vanished almost as quickly when she caught sight of the girl that was beside him.

"You brought a girl." Suddenly her smile turned much more strained. "Yeah.. this is Mikomi, she just moved her, she's in my class." While Naruto and Ayame were talking Mikomi took it upon herself to sit at the bar. "What would be good?" She asked Naruto interrupting the quiet conversation that was going on between him and the waitress. "Right, uh we'll have an order of miso ramen with pork filet." Ayame's face soured further. "Already sharing a bowl of ramen, last time I tried that you stabbed me with your chopsticks."

"What.. no a bowl each, we're not sharing." Naruto looked a bit embarrassed as he was reminded of that particular incident. 'When is she gonna get over that, it was almost three years ago.' Naruto thought, almost thinking of changing the girls memories, but he had already decided a long time ago that he would never mess with his friends heads, or read their minds. Really the only people he was willing to use his powers against, were enemies, well other than for strictly training purposes. Mikomi just observed the two, her hands folded daintily in her lap and the large book laying on the counter.

The wait would've been awkward if Naruto payed attention to such things but as it were, Naruto just sat happily waiting for his ramen to magically appear in front of him. Ayame had a constant glare going as she cooked, even after all these years she still walked with a limp, though it was barely noticeable. The glare shifted focus regularly between Naruto and the girl who had accompanied him to the stall, Ayame truly wasn't sure what she was so upset about. 'I mean he's a really nice guy, but he's so much younger than me.' Was one of the thoughts going through her mind.

Ayame had never answered if her father was working but at this point Naruto was able to come to the conclusion on his own, that indeed he was not. When the two bowls were placed in front of them, albeit with a little more force than necessary, Naruto immediately noticed the way that Mikomi turned her nose up at the soup. "You gotta at least try it." Naruto muttered eyeing the girl, and with a sigh she grabbed her pair of chopsticks and brought a small portion of the noodles to her mouth. Unlike Naruto she didn't slurp, as that would have been unladylike, instead taking a small bite and placing the remains back in the bowl.

Mikomi used her hand to cover her mouth as she chewed the noodles, something else Naruto rarely did, after all chewing just slowed you down. Naruto continued to stare at the girl as though awaiting her reaction to the dish. "It's not as horrible as I first believed." She spoke slowly, Naruto brightening up a bit at her words, he knew no one could hate ramen. "The flavor just might make up for the dreadful service." Ayame's face took on an even harder edge, and Naruto thought she might just lunge across the counter at the girl.

"Care to repeat that." Ayame's forced smile just made her look that much more scary as she walked up to the girl. "Oh.. pardon I just believe that if you spent more time cooking than staring at your customers the overall setting would be much better." Naruto moved his hands frantically trying to tell the ramen girl to calm down, which she did reluctantly. "I see I apologize for staring..." Ayame was almost to the point of seeing red, but she wasn't about to sully her father's name, and hurt his business by attacking a child, ninja student or not.

"As long as you know that you were in the wrong, I suppose that it will be alright, I may even eat here again in the future." Naruto could feel the cold sweat form on his brow, the tension in the air was so thick that it might as well have been visible. "Please don't force yourself, someone of your obvious social standing wouldn't want to be caught dining at such a poor noodle stand." It was obvious she was hoping to never see the girl again, Naruto couldn't really blame her, he was getting sick of her rather quickly as well.

"Nonsense, as long as the food is good where I dine is my own business, let people talk, they do not affect me." The girl just couldn't take a hint, and Naruto looking at the clock over the stove behind Ayame noticed that lunch was almost over. "Mikomi, we need to get going." Naruto quickly downed the rest of his bowl before throwing enough change on the table to pay for both of their meals, something he hadn't planned to do at first, but now that he was in a hurry didn't see the point in not.

"Really, I guess the saying time flies when your having fun does have some meaning after all." The girl giggled standing up leaving her barely touched ramen on the counter. "From now on, I believe I shall accompany you to and from lunch." Naruto wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea and from the look on her face neither was Ayame, but Naruto was much to nice of a person to stop her. "Whatever let's get going, we're gonna be late." Naruto said grabbing her hand again, pulling her away from the stand. "I said not to touch me." The girl yanked her hand away from him again.

"I said not to touch me without permission." Naruto got a glint in his eye. "Really, and what would it take to get your permission." The suggestive way Naruto spoke seemed to go straight over the short girls head, which he figured was pretty normal. "Please stay at least three meters away from me while we walk." This girl needed a serious attitude adjustment, something Naruto actually specialized in. "Whatever you say princess." The girl must not have understood the sarcasm in his voice, at least not with the way she smiled.

It wasn't long before the two reached their destination, only moments before the bell rang, had they managed to take their seat. Naruto only ever payed half attention to his classmates, but out of the corner of his eye he did manage to catch a peculiar dark haired girl staring at him, this wasn't the first time either, over the years he would catch her gaze occasionally. This was different however, the way she was staring at the blonde girl he had walked in with did little to hide the intense dislike for the girl that Naruto was sure the Hyuga, if he remembered correctly felt towards their newest classmate.

Naruto sent a small wave towards the girl, who quickly lost the intense look in her eyes and began staring at the ground. Something Naruto believed she did regularly, not that he was positive, as previously stated he normally tried to pay as little attention to his classmates as possible. Naruto went up to his normal seat in the back of the room, opposite side of where the window was situated, a spot that no one else wanted, the easiest way to assure he would be left to his own devices. The girl of course sat down directly beside him as she had done earlier.

Class passed slowly, with Naruto barely paying any attention whatsoever, everything Iruka-sensei was going over was just a review of the year before anyway. He was asleep by the time the bell rang, signaling that it was time to head outside, for physical exercise. Naruto had long since surpassed what the academy could help him achieve in physical strength, the routine not winding him in the slightest any longer. Of course as it was a new year they increased the difficulty, just not enough for it to make much of a difference on the preteen boy.

None of it mattered, Naruto would end up getting plenty of exercise later anyway, what with his own personal routine, and Iruka-sensei's extra training. Naruto took the time in between his laps around the field to gaze over to the strange new girl. From this distance he couldn't tell if she was getting along with the other girls or not, but from his own experience already he would've guessed that it wouldn't be long before she ensured she would never have friends at this school. "She's fast." He said to himself as the girl began taking laps of her own, easily matching, and then surpassing his own speed.

That of course didn't mean much to Naruto, their were plenty of kids faster than him in class, he was more of a strength based fighter than a speedy one. "Is this the best you lowborn ninja can do?" She offered her snide remark as she passed by him. "Is that a challenge?" Naruto asked as he increased his speed in order to speak to the girl. "No, just an observation." Naruto gave the girl a feral grin, pumping chakra into his legs and pulling ahead of her. As fast as she might be Naruto was confident he could stay ahead, especially after taking into account her long white dress, that almost reached her ankles, and true enough he pulled half a lap ahead in just moments.

Mikomi, stared at the blonde boy as he pulled ahead, she really hadn't been challenging him, but if he wanted a race, she was not afraid to give it to him. It became obvious however that at her current rate there would be no way to catch up. If she were a different girl she might have sighed in annoyance, but as it were she couldn't allow anyone to see her do such a thing. "I won't lose to some pathetic little boy." She said under her breath, kicking off her shoes as she ran, with the fresh dirt under her feet she found it much easier to run, but it still wasn't enough.

Naruto was still ahead, running faster than he had in a long time, faster than he ever had in front of the rest of his class. The look of agitation on the girls face was enough to make Naruto happy, not that he wasn't still going to beat her. He could hear her whisper under her breath, but he couldn't make out the words, and almost like magic her speed shot up far above what it was just seconds before. Pulling ahead so fast Naruto wasn't sure what was happening, all he could do was pump more chakra into his legs and hope to keep up.

"Holy shit." He gasped out, for once the running getting to him, he was putting in everything he had but it just didn't seem like it was enough. In the end he was unable to catch her again, and there she stood a rather satisfied smirk on her face, her shoes long forgotten. "Like I said it wasn't a challenge." Were the words she spoke as he approached, however the look on her face said anything but that. "If it wasn't why are you so happy you won?" Naruto pointed out as he walked up to face her, immediately her smirk dropped and she folded her arms across her chest.

"I don't know what you could be talking about, beating someone so obviously below me wouldn't bring me any such emotion." The high and mighty act didn't take long to make a reappearance. "Whatever you gotta tell yourself princess." The girl turned away from him with a huff, not interested in continuing the conversation. Naruto took her walking away as a sign of her admitting defeat, and chalked it up to his win, it was obvious to Naruto that she was upset, mainly because she when she went inside she had completely forgotten her shoes on the track.

Naruto wasn't sure why he was doing it, but with a sigh he walked over picking up the small white pair of oddly frilly sandals. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted one Sasuke Uchiha standing to the side of the field, staring at him rather intently. "I told you I don't swing that way." Naruto said catching his gaze, the look on his face was priceless, as he turned away with a huff. "Whatever loser." Naruto could swear those were the only words he ever heard the boy speak. "Relax Ace, don't take it so personally, I'm sure someday you'll find a nice man to sweep you off your feet." Naruto chuckled at the anger that flashed across the Uchiha's face, pissing the boy off was one of his favorite pass times.

Naruto followed the brooding boy into the classroom, the first day of his final year as a trainee was just about over. Naruto could feel the anger from the Uchiha as he took his seat, while he had plenty of control over his empath abilities, he occasionally used them to if only to feel the amount of anger he caused the Uchiha. Naruto blocked the boys emotions out as Iruka entered the room, carrying a large book in one of his hands, Naruto noticed it as the same one Mikomi had brought with her, and the girl had noticed as well as she shot from her seat and rushed over to Iruka.

"Ayame from Ichiraku came by, said that a student left this at the stand." Iruka explained handing her the leather book. The girl managed to glare at him out of the corner of his eye while Iruka was talking to her, apparently she blamed him for her forgetting it. Not that he cared in the slightest, if she was mad at him just maybe she would break her promise to tag along everyday for lunch. Of course he didn't really think that was going to happen, but he could still hope. "Thank you sensei." Mikomi said with a small bow, showing she did in fact have some manners, even if she didn't use them very often, afterwords she made her way back up to her seat next to him.

Naruto made it a point not to look at the girl, only because she was still upset, about what he couldn't be sure. He knew there was no way she actually blamed him for her forgetting the book. "You shouldn't try to understand females." The fox bellowed inside of his head, Naruto let out a mental sigh. "And how would you know anything about it." The fox chuckled in response. "Trust me kid, before you all of my containers were female, and I never understood any of them." That was a shock to Naruto he had never heard of the fox having a Jinchuriki before him.

"Wait you mean you've been sealed before." The fox didn't say anything at first, but after a few seconds he spoke, his tone more somber than Naruto could ever remember it being. "In truth I haven't even been free in a long time." That particular information had never been covered in class. "Wait, what about you attacking the village." The fox's voice returned to its normal growling tone as he spoke again. "That is a long story, that you don't need to know about yet." The fox didn't speak any further after that and Naruto got the hint that he didn't want to talk anymore.

Class ended not long after that, with Iruka calling to both him and Mikomi. "Can you two wait for just a moment?" Naruto had a bad feeling about this, but he couldn't necessarily run away from his sensei, he had tried before it didn't work. "Naruto seeing as you are already getting along with Mikomi." Naruto scoffed, he wasn't sure what Iruka was watching but that was definitely not the case. "I believe that it would be good for you to show her around the village." Naruto knew he should have run, and he wondered if he would be able to get away this time.

Mikomi had a similar reaction, but wasn't any more vocal about it than Naruto, just shooting him a glare. "What do you mean show her around, isn't that something her parents should do." Iruka got a lost look on his face, looking to Mikomi as though to ask a question. Mikomi in turn cleared her throat slightly before speaking. "I don't have parents, or a guardian for that matter, your Hokage was kind enough to allow me entrance to this village when my home was destroyed." Naruto had not been expecting that piece of information.

"Wait, how long ago-" Naruto was cut off as Mikomi answered his question. "Three days ago, my parents and everyone else in my village was killed." Iruka was strongly reminded of a very similar incident that happened just a few years ago with another of his students. "I see.. I didn't know that." The girl made a noise of agitation in the back of her throat. "How could you have, I didn't tell you." She didn't sound heart broken or depressed like Naruto thought a person who had just lost everyone should, instead she kept her holier than thou attitude, and emotionless form of talking.

"Don't pity me either, I have no use for such pathetic sentiments." Blunt and straight to the point, Naruto barely knew the girl for a few hours, but something told him he would be putting up with her for quite a while. "Alright princess, don't get your panties in a bunch." The girl's face took on a red hue, but anyone could tell it was not one of embarrassment, but rather anger. Iruka shook his head, he had hoped the two would get along, but now he wasn't so sure, at this rate he was more likely to form a relationship similar to what he shared with Sasuke than be friends with the girl.

Now time found the two walking down the busy streets of Konoha, Naruto trying his best to help the girl find her way home. She had been given housing by the Hokage, the same way he had given Naruto and apartment. Likely that meant that it wouldn't be anything special, and as Mikomi was of somewhat a higher class girl, at least that's how she acted he was sure that whatever apartment she had been given wouldn't be up to her specifications. "So if this is the first time you've been to this place, where have you been staying till today?"

"The Hokage let me stay in a spare room in his mansion." She said it as though it was no big deal, something that made Naruto just a little upset. One of his dreams in life was to be able to stay in that large mansion, of course that also coincided with his dream of becoming Hokage. "Was it awesome?" Naruto couldn't help but ask, the thought of staying there, with what he guessed to be the hundreds of servants the Hokage had was quite the though. "I was under constant watch, honestly there was no privacy."

Naruto wasn't about to let her bad attitude ruin his fantasy of living in the Hokage's mansion, so he decided to just ignore her opinion. "This is it." Naruto looked at the number on the paper one more time to ensure that it was indeed the right address. The building actually wasn't too far from his own, though this one seemed in slightly better shape than the one he lived in. "I suppose it will do." He could hear the disappointment in her tone, not that he really cared. "Did they already deliver your stuff?" Mikomi nodded, before taking a deep breath, and grasping the key that Iruka had given her before they left the academy.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Naruto said waving at the girls retreating form as she climbed the stairs. She half turned towards him, not fully as though to show that it wasn't worth the effort. "Yes, tomorrow, Goodbye Naruto Uzumaki."

End.

A/N: Thirteen chapters down, honestly when I started this I never thought I would get this far, and while I haven't gotten a whole lot of feedback, I am happy with what I have got, every review I've gotten has been very nice, and I'm grateful, but if there's something you don't understand or just have been wondering about feel free to ask me. Please read and review.


	14. Hyuuga

Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 14

Hyuuga

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

Naruto awoke that morning not sure if he was excited or annoyed, it had been a couple days since he had met Mikomi. For the past two days, she had done little more than order Naruto around like a dog, not that he made it a habit of listening. Still her brash and rude behavior was something that was definitely starting to grate his nerves. To make things worse, he had been forced by Iruka to promise the girl he would finally give her a tour around the village today, normally he would tell the teachers, 'to shove it where the sun don't shine,' but this was Iruka, probably the only instructor he had any respect for.

'This is definitely going to screw up my training regiment.' He thought as he made the long trek towards the academy. Even he couldn't deny however that something about Mikomi was appealing, at least aesthetically, as for her personality it definitely needed some improvement. Of course the last thing on Naruto's mind at this point in his life was anything romantic. 'I at least need to be a jonin before I worry about that shit.' He shook his head to try to remove the rather random thoughts. It wasn't too long of a walk anymore, or he just got a lot faster since he was a child, not sure which.

As she had the day before Mikomi stood outside the academy awaiting his arrival. "If you wish to truly be a powerful ninja you should learn to be punctual." Naruto had expected some kind of comment, but as far as he could tell he was early to class. "What the hell are you talkin' about this time." Naruto said with a sigh. "If someone is set to meet you, always arrive before them." She stated in a matter-of-fact way. "I didn't ask you to wait for me." Naruto shot back walking past the short girl, spinning quickly the girl followed him into the classroom.

Sitting at his normal seat, Mikomi didn't hesitate to sit next to him, carrying her large book and setting it down in front of her. That was another thing that Naruto thought was strange, he had yet to see her do anything other than carry the book around, she was never reading it. Of course she could just wait till she got home at night, but then why carry it around at all. Mikomi sat primly, today she was wearing a blue sundress, not exactly ideal for ninja training in Naruto's opinion, but looking down at his bright orange t-shirt, he figured he didn't really have that much room to talk.

"Good morning class." Iruka entered the class a stack of papers in one hand. "Today we're going to have a short quiz." There was a moment of silence, followed by groans from almost all of the classes occupants. "But sensei, we haven't even learned anything this year." Came a whine from one of the many upset students. "That's why the quiz is on things you learned last year." This statement was followed by another unanimous groan. "Relax it's not difficult, just need to make sure you at least remember something from last year."

Naruto wasn't worried about something like this, sure it was more or less a waste of everyone's time, but Naruto's secret weapon always managed to make sure he passed these kinds of things. He waited quietly while the majority of the class complained, and before long the paper was in front of him, flipped face down to insure that he wouldn't be able to see the questions until the test had begun. "Okay everyone you may begin." With the call from Iruka as one the student's flipped over their test papers and began scanning the questions.

Naruto looked at the questions as well, to his surprise he actually knew a majority of the answers. 'Huh, I guess I did learn something last year.' He thought to himself. Looking to the side, he was shocked to see Mikomi completely breezing through the test, sure he hadn't thought she would be stupid, but as far as he knew the ninja academy in her old village focused a lot more on physical training than mental, or that was pretty much what she had told him. 'That makes things easier.' The closer proximity he was to someone the easier it was to read thoughts, so being right next to someone who knew all the answers off the top of their head was a dream come true for Naruto.

Focusing his chakra, he reached out probing the young girls mind, just a little what he figured would be enough to scrap some answers off the top. 'What the hell?' He pushed a little harder, a familiar pinprick sensation tingling the back of his head. No longer did he get the almost unbearably painful headaches, they had been replaced by this new peculiar feeling, unless of course he strained too hard. However pushing as hard as he dared with any of his other classmates didn't seem to get him anywhere in Mikomi's mind.

"She's much stronger than I thought." The fox's familiar growl entered into his mind, Naruto tried to ignore him at first, still focusing more on breaking through the girls defense. "It's no use boy, you should have figured that out by now." Naruto was forced to give up his pursuit when Mikomi looked at him suspiciously out of the corner of his eye. Naruto felt his heart drop, and abruptly stopped what he was doing. 'Could she feel me, I thought that was impossible?' Naruto asked the fox almost on the verge of freaking out.

He had done very well at hiding his ability from everyone, and didn't know what he would do if the secret got out now. He could already hear all the accusations that would accompany such a thing, the majority of which would be that he cheated his way through the academy. That wasn't exactly a lie, but it also wasn't the point right now, Naruto's mind couldn't help but go straight to the worst case scenario, this in point being getting kicked out of the academy, and forever banned from becoming a ninja. "Relax boy, the girl knows nothing, even if she did, she would have no way to prove it." The fox always had a way of calming the boy down.

Naruto could already feel his heart rate returning to normal, whatever the fox had done, worked almost like a sedative, allowing Naruto to calm down immediately. Luckily no drowsiness was involved, and Naruto was able to regain his bearings rather quickly. 'What happened?' Naruto had never had that happen, had never panicked that much before. "It must be some kind of barrier." The fox replied, with a quite hum to its voice. 'Barrier?' Naruto knew what a barrier was, he just wasn't sure how one had messed with his emotions to the point of making him panic so much. "Yes, when you tried to probe the girls mind, some kind of force repelled you."

'Force, could you tell what it was.' Naruto got a mental image of the fox shaking its large fur covered muzzle. "No but it had quite the effect on you, the longer you tried to read her, the more of your thoughts and feelings were shot straight back at you, increasing in strength each time." So that's what happened. 'You mean my empath abilities were affected by my own feelings, instead of someone elses?' That didn't sound good, it had never happened before, and Naruto wondered if his powers were getting stronger again.

"Unlikely, the cause has something to do with the girl, be careful, don't try to read her again." Naruto took the fox's warning to heart, but otherwise tried to push what had just happened to the side, it wouldn't do him any good to dwell on something he was incapable of understanding right now. Looking back down at his paper he filled in the answers that he knew, before looking around the room trying to find a suitable victim to give him the remaining answers. He found it in a certain pink haired girl, one of the smartest in class, and one of his favorites.

Everytime, he used her answers he would get A's and she was sitting far enough a way, that Iruka would have a hell of a time proving anything even if he noticed the similar response's, between their tests. Her name was Sakura Haruno, she was cute, and smart, but for everything else she was quite below average, in his opinion it was because she focused too much of her time staring into the empty void that was Sasuke's soul, but that was just what he thought. Focusing his mind, he was easily able to scrape the answers he needed off the top of her consciousness.

At one point Naruto had a crush on the pink haired girl, of course that was over two years ago now, he had decided to use his powers to find out if the girl felt the same way, but once he had reached the part of her brain that would tell him what she thought about him, all he could find was hate, hate for his very existence it was one of the reasons he had decided to never pry into his classmates minds again. He hadn't had the courage to venture deeper and find the source of her hate, as far as he knew he had never done anything to the girl.

Finishing his quiz quickly Naruto flipped his paper over, he preferred not dwell on the past to much, he did enough of that without worrying about his classmates hatred of him. Laying his head down on his desk he began waiting for everyone else to finish. Ten minutes later and Iruka began collecting the tests. "Anyone who failed this test will have remedial classes after school tomorrow." Iruka decided to mention, a couple of students immediately voicing their displeasure. Naruto figured those to be the students who had just wrote random answers out of laziness.

Naruto smiled to himself, at least that was something he wouldn't have to worry about. Mikomi continued to stare at him strangely, something Naruto was determined to ignore. The fox had said she shouldn't have been able to tell it was him, even if she had noticed something wrong, so all he had to do was play dumb, and everything would be fine. "What are you staring at?" He said forcing a harsh tone into his voice. Mikomi diverted her gaze staring now at the desk instead, Naruto turned, feeling something strange.

His eyes made contact with the small Hyuga, who once again seemed to be glaring at Mikomi. 'I wonder what happened between these two?' Naruto thought, as similar to Mikomi the Hyuga's eye's shifted towards her desk when he looked at her. He didn't know the dark haired girl or anything, but out of all the girls in his class she had always seemed to be the nicest. Of course given Mikomi's personality quarks, it was entirely possible that the blonde haired girl had done something to insult the Hyuga, though she looked to be someone that would get more sad than angry about such things

"Weird.." Naruto muttered to himself, feeling too annoyed to even remotely care about such things right now. Naruto kept an unapproachable aura up till lunch time, at which point Mikomi turned to him. "So where are you taking me today?" No matter if she was trying to sound nice or not, her tone of voice always gave that feeling that she thought she was better than you. Naruto figured he would get used to it in time, but also knew, that time wouldn't be very soon. "The ramen stand." The displeased look on her face, made Naruto feel a bit better.

He did feel bad for that, though only for a second, the girl had been so rude to him that it was hard to care for any longer than that. "I believe that we should eat somewhere different for today, what other eatery's would you recommend?" Naruto scoffed at that, even if he wanted to eat somewhere else, the chances of finding someone willing to serve him were so small that more likely than anything lunch break would be wasted. "I'm sorry princess, but if you want to go somewhere else, than you will be going by yourself."

Naruto even tried to make his voice sound snooty just like hers. "It's fine." That wasn't the response he had expected. "Huh?" He stared at the short girl for a moment. "I said it's fine, if it is so important, that you survive solely on ramen, then I shall accompany you in that decision." Naruto wasn't sure what to think of the girl. 'Is she really just that stubborn.' He shook his head from side to side, as though to collect his thoughts. "Listen princess, if you want to eat somewhere else go for it, I am perfectly capable of eating by myself."

"No, I decided to have lunch with you every day, and I don't say something unless I mean it." Naruto shrugged, if she was really that stubborn than who was he to stand in her way, well other than the person she had chosen to annoy. 'She's definitely strange though.' He thought making his way out of the classroom, Mikomi following quickly afterword book in hand, Naruto took little notice of the pair of sad lavender eyes that watched them walk out of the room together. He did however notice when that pair of lavender eyes silently followed him all the way to the ramen stand.

'Hey fox?' The demon made a growling sound in the back of Naruto's mind to signal that he was listening. "What is it this time brat?" He sounded like he was in a bad mood, though Naruto wouldn't be able to say why, as far as he knew that fox was in an almost constant state of 'immensely pissed off' which is why he had learned quickly not to antagonize the beast. Which was made much harder by the fact that Naruto had no way of blocking the fox from reading his thoughts. 'What was her name?' He said conjuring a mental image of the young Hyuga girl.

"You think I've nothing better to do, than remember the name of every puny human in your life." It was rhetorical question of course, and Naruto knew this, didn't stop him from answering though. 'You really don't, it's not like you get out much.' The nine tails didn't take the joke very well, as expressed by the sudden pain that entered Naruto's brain. Naruto felt a shiver go down his spine afterwords, it had actually been a long time since the fox had done something like that. "Her name is Hinata." The fox answered, apparently he really did know Naruto's classmates by name.

Naruto turned before entering the curtain that separated the stands seating area from the road. "Hey Hinata." He could of sworn he heard the girl emit a small 'eep' sound, from behind the street lamp that somehow managed to completely hide her form. When she didn't immediately reveal herself, Naruto took it upon himself to walk over to her, something the girl either hadn't expected or had hoped wouldn't happen. "Do you want to eat with us?" This was perfect, sure Naruto could see that Hinata didn't care much for Mikomi, but if he was correct the girl was much to nice to stay that way.

The Hyuga girl seemed to be at a lose for words, and Naruto started to wonder if she was feeling well, as her skin became flushed quickly. "You alright." He waved one of his hands in front of her face, but all he got was for her to blink slightly. After a good minute of staring at the girl, she slowly nodded her head just the barest of movements. Naruto took it as an agreement however, and quickly grabbed the heiress by the hand, and began almost dragging her over to the ramen stand. 'Now I just need these two to become friends, and this girl will stop bothering me and start bothering you.'

His thoughts might not have been totally pure, but at this point he just wanted to go back to being able to ignore everyone other than Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba. A long time ago he would probable have freely embraced the thought of friendship, but now he would rather just not get attached to, too many people. Mikomi gave the barest of bows to the short haired girl, with the pale skin, Hinata on the other hand didn't even seem to notice, her face had turned so flushed that Naruto was actually starting to worry.

It didn't help that she looked like she might pass out anytime, realizing that he still had a hold on the girls hand, he quickly released her. Naruto wasn't sure if being touched was a thing all girls hated or just Mikomi, he couldn't remember Ayame ever complaining, and Yugao would typically hug him every chance she got. Either way, if Naruto's plan was going to work he needed to make sure not to anger the pale eyed girl. "What's wrong with your eyes, are you blind?" Naruto could strangle the little blond girl at this point, she was so tactless it was infuriating.

The combination of Naruto releasing her hand, and Mikomi's question snapped Hinata out of her stupor. To Naruto's surprise, the anger she showed in class was nowhere to be seen now that the two were face to face. "N-n-no.." Her voice was very soft, this was the very first time he had heard the girl speak aloud, at least that he could remember. "Really how odd." Hinata started to look a little down, as Mikomi continued with the subject. "I think they look cool." Naruto jumped in, he was attempting to bring Hinata's mood up, hoping that Mikomi's comments wouldn't make her leave.

That didn't mean that his statement was false though, he really did like the way the Hyuga eye's looked, something about them was so intense, it was hard to look away. On more than one occasion Naruto had wished he had something similar, only to push those thoughts aside. Hinata let out another strange squeak like noise at his comment, and he began to wonder if she might be half mouse or something. "R-really." Again that soft voice escaped her lips, it sounded so fragile that Naruto was starting to feel bad for what he was trying to do.

That didn't mean he was going to stop though, he saw a way out and this blonde annoyance that was almost constantly insulting him, and following him everywhere needed to go somewhere. Naruto had caught on that Mikomi wasn't purposely insulting people of course, but that didn't make it any less annoying. "So Hinata, what do you want to eat?" A look of confusion crossed her face momentarily, before her blush returned three times as bright as it was before. 'Is he asking me on a date?' Were her thoughts, before she fell over almost slamming her head onto the hard ground, if it hadn't been for Mikomi's quick reflexes, who caught the girl before Naruto could even make a move.

"Is she sick?" Naruto bent down to feel the young girls head, and sure enough her forehead was quite warm. Mikomi however shook her head in the negative. "I do not believe she is ill, though she is quite the odd girl." Either way Naruto thought he should take her to the hospital, and he voiced his opinion. "We should get her to a doctor, just in case." Mikomi made a 'hmm' noise, before looking him in the eyes. "We should wait, if she does not awaken soon, then you can seek medical expertise." Naruto wasn't sure why they should wait, but he also got the feeling that arguing with the girl would be pointless.

"Fine." Naruto said letting out an annoyed sounding sigh, something about the girl, just made it hard to argue with her, which was why Naruto wasn't trying to. Still Naruto didn't feel right ordering food, until he was sure Hinata was okay, she may not have been his responsibility, but that didn't matter. It was a feeling that Mikomi did not share however, as she wasted no time ordering. Unlike before, Ayame was nowhere in site, Teuchi was running the stall instead. "One bowl of miso ramen, with shrimp." Naruto shivered he wasn't a huge fan of shrimp, sure he would eat it if he had to, but he would prefer pork any day.

"Right away young lady." Teuchi said with a smile, sending a wink towards her. It came off a little creepy, but Mikomi smiled back all the same. Teuchi then turned towards Naruto. "So you want the regular, or you want ta try something new?" Naruto wasn't really focusing and as such didn't reply immediately. "Huh.. oh, I'm not sure yet." Teuchi blinked in confusion, Naruto was never one to wait to order, but he shrugged and chalked it up to another of the blonde's odd moments. "Alright just tell me when you're ready."

Teuchi hadn't noticed Hinata, mainly because Naruto had leaned her up against the side of the stand, where he could keep an eye on her, without worrying about her falling off of one of the stools. It was only a few minutes before Mikomi had her ramen set in front of her, and Hinata had yet to stir whatsoever. Naruto was ready to either order or take the girl to the hospital, it didn't matter which one, because at this point it might as well have been torture, watching someone else eat ramen while he had none.

Luckily for the boy, he didn't have to wait much longer, as the dark blue haired girl began to stir. "Are you alright?" Naruto asked having left his seat to bend down next to the girl as soon as she showed signs of movement. He was going to be as nice to the girl as possible. 'The last thing I need is for people to start rumors about me knocking girls out on the road.' While that wasn't even close to what happened he knew that it was extremely possible that someone would say just that. Especially from the way people were staring at him right at that moment.

Naruto locked eyes with one such person, a woman with long black hair, returning the glare she was giving him, the woman began to walk just a little faster, while averting her eyes. 'They'll probably say I threatened to kill that woman too.' Naruto couldn't do anything about it, he was grateful that the Hokage didn't take any of these accusations seriously, or he would've probably been in jail by now. One thing Naruto was grateful for, was that while he did live in a village of assholes, he didn't live in a village of child beaters.

No one had ever layed a hand on him, sure there were probably some that wanted to, but they never had, and that was what really mattered. To Naruto, it meant that somewhere inside a majority of these people still saw him as a child, not a demon. It was the only reason Naruto still believed that they were worth his protection, and why his dream of being Hokage had not died. Through all the rumors, of him being a murderer, and all the whispers of him being a demon, Naruto believed that they didn't truly believe it, because if they did, there is no way that someone wouldn't have tried to kill him.

Hinata stared blankly into the face of the blonde, one that was so close to her own. She must have been to surprised to feel embarrassed, either that or her brain wasn't working quite yet seeing as she hadn't been awake for more than a few seconds. Once it had finally registered that she had been asked a question, she whispered out a response. "Yes, I'm fine." Her voice was devoid of the stutter that Naruto had thought permanent. Finally noticing who it was that she was staring at, her face exploded in a full on blush.

"Um... I-i mean." The girl was at a loss for words, but Naruto was more concerned with the fact the girls face had turned red once again. "Are you sure, you look kinda, I don't know, sick I guess." Naruto reached out to feel the girls head again, though her being awake this time, her blush deepened. Naruto pulled his hand away quickly. "Mikomi, I think she really is sick?" Said blonde girl did little more than roll her eyes and continue eating. "I-i'm f-fine." The girl struggled to get just those words out, and Naruto didn't look very convinced.

"You're positive." Hinata gave the barest of nods, with Naruto letting out a sigh. "Well did you want to eat with us?" Again a very small nod was the only answer that was given, but it was enough for Naruto, after all if he didn't order soon, there would be no way for him to finish eating by the time they had to be back in class. "All right old man, let me get to of my regular, and what ever she wants." Naruto said putting a hand on Hinata's shoulder, before quickly removing it, just in case. Naruto was about to sit down before thinking about it.

"Hey Hinata why don't you sit here?" He motioned to the spot next to Mikomi, it was only natural, if he wanted the two to become friends the first step was to have them sit next to each other. Naruto gave himself a proud nod at the completely fool proof plan he was concocting. Hesitantly she sat next to the blonde haired girl. "H-hello." She said lightly, bowing her head in Mikomi's direction. Mikomi sent the girl an innocent smile, something that Naruto couldn't help but feel was out of place on her, at least with the way she typically acted.

'Now time for phase two, get them to be friends.' It was only a two phase plan, but Naruto had all the confidence in the world that it would work.

End.

A/N: I'll have another chapter up next Sunday, I hope everyone continues to enjoy this story. Please Read and Review.


	15. Friend

Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 15

Friend

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

Naruto walked back to class in a bit of a better mood, he was correct in assuming that Hinata was too nice of a girl to truly hate Mikomi. The two had got along quite well at the ramen stand, at least from his perspective. Sure the two hadn't spoken more than a few words to each other, but Mikomi hadn't said anything overtly mean to her either, and in Naruto's book that was a win. He currently found himself walking between that two, with a girl at either side, it was probably most boy's dream. Of course Naruto was quite aware that Mikomi disliked him, and he was pretty sure that Hinata was only tagging along because he had asked her to.

They arrived back at the academy a few moments after the bell had rung, something that Naruto wasn't really worried about, but from the look of horror on Hinata's soft face, he was pretty sure she had never been late to anything. "Relax, it's not so bad, Iruka probably won't even lecture you." He was speaking mostly to Hinata, but it was obvious that Mikomi was listening as well. "Thank you for your concern, but I was in no way fretting on the time." Just her way of talking grated on his nerves, but he just wasn't mean enough to tell her so.

Hinata gave him a small reserved smile in response, something about her reminded him of someone, he just couldn't place his finger on who. 'Oh well, it'll come to me eventually.' He thought with a small shrug. The thing about the academy was that being late back to class, wasn't that big of a deal, but being late from back to lunch could be bad. If only for the reason that the large gate that surrounded the place was locked the second the bell signaling the end of lunch ended. Of course this was only a problem if one couldn't jump a fence, a rather easy accomplishment for any ninja worth his salt.

With practiced ease Naruto hopped over the almost twenty foot gate, leaving the two girls behind. Turning around he gave both of them a large grin. "Come on, what are you waiting for?" He said motioning for them to jump. Hinata looked a little uneasy, but after looking Naruto in the eye's it seemed her confidence had went up considerably, as with a deep breath she focused as much power as she could into her legs and jumped, barely managing to clear the spiked tops of the gate, but clearing it all the same.

Stumbling on her landing, she found herself being held up by a particular blonde haired boy, something that immediately brought color to her face. Making sure she was steady, Naruto slowly let go of the shy girl's arms, something that she wasn't exactly ecstatic about, not that she had the courage to say so. With both of them staring at her, Mikomi couldn't exactly not do it as well, so taking a moment to prepare herself, she as well jumped. Unfortunately she didn't quite jump hard enough, causing her to get caught on the large spikes.

Naruto had to hold back his laughter as the girl let out a particularly high pitched scream. One of the spikes had managed to perfectly snag her dress leaving her suspended in the air. Something she was quite obviously not happy about. "I see you went for the black panties." Naruto observed, causing the girl to scream a bit more, and try to hold her skirt down to cover herself. "I honestly thought you would be more of a cartoon character kind of girl." Hinata was staring at the ground in embarrassment at this point, not that she did much else in the first place.

"I demand you get me down from here this instant." Her normal calm and collected voice had turned a bit shrill, which only added to Naruto's amusement. "Calm down princess, I'm on it." Naruto pulled a kunai out of the pouch on his right thigh, before making a mighty leap and landing perfectly positioned on top of one of the gates spikes. "I have to cut your dress." He said, semi apologetically, before hacking at said piece of fabric, causing Mikomi to fall to the ground in a rather undignified heap, Naruto jumped down just a couple of seconds later, pocketing his kunai as he did so.

"What kind of ninja can't jump." Naruto said grabbing Mikomi's hand to pull her to her feet. "I can jump, I'm just out of practice." She said quickly snatching her hand back from his. "Really, from how much you freaked, I'd almost say you were scared of heights." Naruto had meant it purely as a joke, but when he saw the look on her face, his jaw dropped. "No way, a ninja scared of heights." He couldn't help bursting out into another fit of laughter, which only seemed to anger the girl. "Th-th-theres noth..ing w-w-wrong with... b-being scared.. of something."

Hinata said this with conviction and almost seemed to be staring Naruto down, almost like she had lost respect for him. Naruto quickly quieted down after this, looking a bit down. "Sorry." He said it lowly almost to the point of being inaudible. He honestly didn't know what had come over him, after all the years of people making fun of him, you would think he would be more understanding than that. "I am not scared of anything." Mikomi finally said, and for a second, Naruto could swear he saw a hurt look in the girl's eyes, which did little to make him feel better.

Without saying anything else Mikomi ran off in the direction of the classroom. Hinata spent a moment looking between where Mikomi had run off to, and back to Naruto, before finally running after the other girl. 'Seems like they might just become friends.' Naruto thought walking slowly back to class as well. "It wouldn't kill you to have some yourself." Naruto either ignored the fox's comment or didn't hear it, as he slowly walked back with his head down. Upon entering the class Naruto made his way up to his normal seat. Only mildly surprised to see that Mikomi was now sitting over beside Hinata instead of beside him.

The rest of class passed slowly, at least as far as Naruto was concerned. "I got what I wanted, so why do I feel like crap." He spoke aloud, he was now on his way home, and was trying to decipher the strange feeling in his chest. There was no way he actually enjoyed her company, right. He shook the thought from his mind, ignoring the normal glares that he got on a normal basis. "What's up squirt?" The voice came from behind him, and it was a very familiar one. "You've been gone for a while this time." Naruto said not turning to acknowledge the figure.

"It's not my fault." The feminine voice spoke as a pair of arms wrapped around Naruto's shoulders pulling him into a hug. "You seem upset." She noticed as Naruto struggled to release himself from her strong grip. "I'm fine, not like you care anyway." Naruto said, causing her to release her grip quickly. "I care, if I didn't I wouldn't have asked." She said spinning him around to look directly into his eye's, her long purple hair blowing in the breeze as she did so. "Yugao, just leave me alone about it, I don't even know what's wrong yet." He said averting his eyes defiantly.

"Well if you tell me, maybe we can figure it out together." Yugao said an almost pleading tone to her voice. "Just leave me alone." This was the one thing about Naruto that bothered Yugao, how damn stubborn he could be. "Not until you let me help." The only way she knew to deal with it was to be just as stubborn herself. The two stood glaring at each other for a good five minutes, before Naruto let out a light sigh. "Fine, you win." Yugao's glare was replaced by a confident smile. "Always do." She laughed following Naruto back to his apartment.

"I'll make you dinner tonight, to make up for being gone so long." Yugao said making her way into the kitchen, rummaging through the cabinets for a few minutes. She could tell rather quickly that she would have to go to the store, but spent more time than necessary looking to give Naruto the time, to get his story together. While Yugao no longer guarded Naruto it wasn't uncommon for her to still come over to his apartment to cook, at least when she wasn't out on missions anyway. Walking back into the living room, she spotted Naruto sitting on the couch.

"You don't have any food." Naruto rolled his eye's in a way that said that it should've been obvious. "So are you gonna start talking." Yugao probed gently, Naruto wasn't found of discussing feelings, maybe it was something to do with the fact that he was a boy, but as he grew the less and less he liked talking about such things. Even so once he began explaining he couldn't stop himself, and for the next thirty minutes Naruto completely explained everything he could think of the girl, hoping Yugao could explain why he was so upset that he had upset her, heck that was something he did to most people for fun.

Yugao couldn't help but laugh at the end, something that Naruto was not happy about. "What the hells so funny!" He demanded indignantly, to which Yugao waved him off. "Nothing, I'm sorry, its just that I didn't think it was that simple." Naruto glared heatedly at the woman. "Well I'm glad it's simple to you." Yugao stood up off the couch, stretching out her back muscles as she did so. "Naruto, you made a friend, has it really been so long that you don't remember what it feels like to hurt the feelings of someone you actually care about?"

Yugao asked the question, but when she thought about it a bit harder, she realized that may have actually been the case, sure for the last year or so she had been so busy with missions that she hadn't been able to spend a whole lot of time with the boy. Before that however she distinctly remembered him distancing himself from anyone that would try to get close to him. "She's not my friend, she's just some bratty princess." It was funny how much Naruto was trying to deny something a small as having made a friend.

"Relax, it's not like I said you were in love with the girl, of course maybe you are, that's a possibility too I guess." Naruto's face lit up like a christmas tree. "It was a joke Naruto, no one falls in love in a day." Shaking the thoughts that began to fill his head Naruto decided that he just needed to think about it some more. "Are you going to make dinner." Naruto asked changing the subject, Yugao allowed him to do this, making her way to the door. "What do you want, I'll have to go to the store." Yugao expected the answer she received. "Ramen!"

"No ramen, I'll just surprise you." She answered walking out of the door before he could argue about it. Naruto pouted for a minute, he wanted to follow after her, but knew that if he went shopping with her, the store owners would just try to charge her more. "I'm not so socially inept that I couldn't tell if she was my friend." He said into the air. "I wouldn't be so sure." The fox's voice answered back, Naruto sighed again, even when he thought he was alone, he wasn't. "What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto asked humoring the fox.

"That is something you'll have to figure out." The fox laughed in its deep grumble, before Naruto felt its presence fade away. "Whatever, stupid fox." Naruto turned laying down on his couch and closing his eyes. "I'll just rest till Yugao get's back." Naruto whispered with a yawn, a strange wave of exhaustion passing over him. Naruto awoke several hours later, to a someone shaking his shoulders. "If your not going to wake up, I'll eat by myself." Yugao's voice invaded his senses, he found it hard to force himself awake.

Naruto couldn't help but feel it was strange, he hadn't had any trouble waking up since he was just a child. "I'm up, just give me a minute." He yawned, slowly sitting up, and stretching out his back muscles. "What did'ja make?" Naruto couldn't get over how heavy his eye's felt as he stood to his feet, walking into the kitchen with them still closed. Yugao stared at the young boy, he was acting strange, she couldn't remember a time that he ever fell asleep in the middle of the day, if he had enough free time to nap he would use it training.

"Curry." She answered his question, moving to get the young boy a serving. "Ramen would've been better." Naruto muttered, low enough to where he didn't think she would have been able to hear it, of course Yugao wasn't in Anbu for no reason. Clicking her tongue in annoyance, Naruto immediately knew that she had heard him. "But curry's awesome too, I sure do love your cooking." He said more awake now, one of his large smiles in place, one hand rubbing the back of his head, in what Yugao had long since determined to be a nervous gesture.

The two ate in moderate silence, but elsewhere two different people sat talking about things a bit more serious. "Did you find anything of importance in the demon's abode." The one eyed man spoke, to which his subordinate gave an immediate response. "No lord Danzo, the boy appears loyal to the village." The man Danzo, was a gruff fellow, his appearance was one of a man who had seen war, maybe too much war. Much of his body was covered in bandages, including half of his face, and the entirety of his right arm.

"I see." Danzo stroked his beardless chin, as though in deep contemplation. "Where you able to obtain the sample I asked for." The subordinate, a man who looked to be dressed in full Anbu gear, reached into the pouch on his waist, pulling out a vial full of red liquid, he bowed his head and raised the object in offering. Danzo slowly walked forward, something that seemed to give him some trouble, as he had to use a cane to support his weight, his back was bent in what seemed to be a hunch. Reaching out he grasped the vial, looking at it closely he turned away from the man before slipping the item into his pocket and waving the man off.

The Anbu wasted no time in disappearing from his lords sight, as was expected of him. Danzo hobbled down the long hallways of his headquarters, directly below the Hidden Leaf Village, he was the founder of this underground network. An establishment, for the preservation and protection of the village, this was what kept the leaf strong, at least in Danzo's opinion, this was its roots. Making his way to a particular set of doors, down a particular hallway Danzo walked in. At once everyone in the room stopped what they were doing to look in his direction, before bowing down on one knee, and lowering their heads, a sign of complete dedication, he would not except any less.

"Get back to work!" He barked out, and like the perfect machines that they were none hesitated in immediately getting back to what they were doing. Danzo walked up to one in particular, the only one not dressed in the typical black uniform, instread he had a white lab coat. "Analyze this." Danzo spoke pulling out the red vial, and gently placing it in his subordinates hand. "Right away lord Danzo." There were no questions, when Danzo asked for something to be done it was done. There had been some before to question the man, though they had been dealt with.

"Now then Uzumaki, lets see if being a jinchuriki has given you any.. perks." Danzo chuckled to himself. Walking just as slowly out of the room, he knew that the boy had been doing just a little too well on his tests, he knew because he personally had seen to the boy not getting the same education as his classmates. Yet somehow he was at the top of the class, so Danzo being the suspicious man that he was, believed that it was entirely possible for the fox to be responsible. "It's no matter, I will still have him."

Naruto awoke the next morning with an odd feeling overcoming him, thankfully the strange bout of exhaustion from yesterday had disappeared, and didn't seem to be making a comeback. Yugao had left after dinner, saying something along the lines of having to meet up with her boyfriend. Naruto had not met the man, but Yugao had been dating him for almost a year now. 'What was his name?" The thought passed through his mind before he realized that he really couldn't care less. Not that he didn't want Yugao to be happy, he just didn't really understand the whole boyfriend, girlfriend thing.

He knew what sex was of course, the academy covered that subject very thoroughly. Complete with a live demonstration, boys and girls where sent to different rooms of course. He was also fairly certain, that the thing that Yugao had to meet her boyfriend for, was just that. Shaking the thoughts from his mind Naruto turned on the water for his shower, he had woken up a bit early and didn't need to be at the academy for almost an hour, plenty of time to take a quick shower. Going through his clothes he pulled out a black t-shirt and a pair of cargo shorts, it was much too warm to worry about wearing his tracksuit, even if it was in his favorite color.

On average showers only took him a max of fifteen minutes, today he spent a little longer. Looking into the mirror on his bathroom wall just above the sink, he noticed an odd red mark on his upper arm. "Great, bugs." He thought he kept a relatively clean house, at least more so than when he was a child, but if he was drawing in bugs he had to be doing something wrong. "Strangest bug bite I've ever seen." He said turning his body to get a better look in the mirror. It looked to be just a single puncture, like a mosquito, but with no swelling, and much deeper.

'Almost like a needle.' The thought made him shiver, he wasn't found of needles, he wasn't terrified of them either, but the thought of a bug in his apartment with needle like appendages, made him uncomfortable. "No point dwelling on it now." He said pushing it to the back of his mind, and jumping into the shower. "Son of a bitch!" The yell could be heard throughout the small building that housed Naruto's apartment. Naruto had realized a little too late that he had only turned on the cold water, and was quite shocked when he threw his body under the shower head.

This was more than enough to put Naruto in a distinctly bad mood. Seeing Shikamaru and Choji walking in front of him, he walked just a little faster to catch up with them. Though he had nothing to add to their conversation he still enjoyed walking with them. It was calming in a way, and the two wouldn't spurn his company either. Making it to the academy earlier than normal he wasn't surprised to not see Mikomi waiting for him. Shrugging his shoulders, and ignoring the fact that it bothered him, Naruto walked into the building and took his normal seat.

Thirty minutes passed before the bell rang, though Naruto had already lost all interest in paying attention to any teachers at that point. He would much rather be out training, of course he had no choice, the only was to become a ninja was to attend class, so he was stuck. He had his head down on the desk, though was far from sleeping, only raising his head when he heard the door close, signifying that class was about to begin. What he saw however was not what he was expecting, standing there in front of his desk hands on her hips, and a heated glare on her face was Mikomi.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked laying his head back down on his folded arms, and turning it in a way that prevented him from looking at her. "We are supposed to meet outside the school every morning, I did not believe this to be a difficult task, however I could not help but notice that this morning you did not show." Naruto was confused, it wasn't that he didn't show, he was just fairly certain that the girl did not want to see him. "Hold up." Naruto said raising his hands up to stop the girl from speaking.

It accomplished its task, though Mikomi didn't seem happy about pretty much being told to shut her mouth. "I thought you were mad." Now it was Mikomi's turn to look confused, an expression that Naruto could admit was just a little cute on her face. "What event would have you believe that I have become angry." Naruto furiously tousled his hair, running his hands back and forth through it. Nothing about this girl had even the slightest chance of making sense apparently. "What about Hinata you were hanging out with her."

"Yes, what of it, I wanted to understand exactly how girls should react to one another, I believe that it will be an important skill to have once I have become a kunoichi." That was apparently the only reason that she had went to sit next to the Hyuuga, Naruto was now positive that he didn't understand a thing about how the girl in front of him functioned. "And what did you figure out?" Mikomi got a look of contemplation on her face before she answered. "Hinata is quite shy, and as such lacking in any sort of stimulating conversational skills."

"Though I suppose you could classify her as being very selfless, just my opinion of course." Iruka entered the room at that point, instructing everyone to sit down. Mikomi did as instructed walking over and taking the seat next to Naruto as normal. Though there was one difference, being that almost immediately afterwords a certain shy Hyuga girl walked in, which was odd in and of itself, seeing as Naruto couldn't remember a single time the girl had been late to class. Instead of walking up to her own corner, the one she sat in everyday to be alone, she made a b-line for Naruto's row and sat directly in the seat next to Mikomi.

Apparently Naruto's plan had worked, at least Hinata now wanted to be Mikomi's friend, and as far as he knew the girl wouldn't spurn the attention. "Okay class open your books and turn to page 218." Iruka said loudly, there was only one problem with this of course, that he had never said which book. A mistake that another student was quick to point out. Iruka got a look of embarrassment on his face at the rather simple mistake, quickly correcting it, and telling everyone to take out their 'History of the Nations' text books.

Class passed just like always, Naruto couldn't help but get excited every time he thought about the fact that in just a few months he would finally be down with all book learning. Sure the school year had just started but just the thought of finally being a ninja was more than enough to help him get through even the most boring lessons that Iruka had up his sleeve. At lunch Naruto found himself accompanied by two girls instead of just one. It seemed that Mikomi was just the excuse Hinata needed to eat lunch with Naruto whenever she wanted.

The days passed as such, and before Naruto realized it, he had actually begun to enjoy the girls company, of course as with all things, this too came with a price. Naruto had just begun to open himself up to the prospect of friends, but he found himself so busy that he had almost no time to train anymore, something that one particular Demon felt needed to be addressed and quickly, after all he would not stand for having a weak container. "Someday this body will be mine child, till then I need you to take care of it." The fox spoke to himself, the deep laugh echoing through the empty halls of Naruto's mind.

End.

A/N: I almost forgot to post this chapter, bringing some action in Next chapter, and we're finally getting close to Naruto becoming an actual ninja. I never meant for it to take this long, but I just kept getting different ideas and it never seemed like the right time to fast forward in the story, anyway please read and review, and the next chapter will be up Sunday.


	16. Attacked

Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 16

Attacked

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

Naruto stood sweating in the middle of his normal training field, two weeks, that was how long he had to wait before graduation. Which of course meant he had to find a way to master this jutsu in that amount of time. Calming his breathing he put his hands together in the required seal, before flooding his body with chakra. In a puff of smoke two more Naruto's appeared, though they were significantly paler than the original, and seemed barely able to stand. "Why the hell do my illusions seem so weak!" He stomped on the ground.

The fox had recently brought this particular problem to his attention, he had told Naruto that only those who mastered this jutsu could ever hope to be true ninja. He had problems with this one from the beginning, unlike the substitution and transformation techniques which he mastered in a matter of days. The clone jutsu never worked for him, he had already been doing this for the last week every day, he had completely stopped hanging out with Mikomi and Hinata. Another thing the fox had told him was that the only hope he had of mastering it in time would be to completely isolate himself from all distractions.

Naruto couldn't really argue, for the last couple months he hadn't been training nearly as much as he should have. Getting back into his starting position he formed the seal again, this time putting less chakra into the jutsu, a tip the fox had given him. A large cloud of smoke preceded the emergence of the next two Naruto's both looking very similar to the last batch. Naruto never thought that he would have so much trouble just because of his large chakra reserves, but no matter how little he would try to use the result was the same.

"There has to be a better way." He said aloud wiping some of the sweat from his forehead. One thing about having a demon fox as a teacher, was that he was actually not a ninja, and as such had no techniques that he could actually teach him. Iruka was still giving him extra training of course, but he refused to teach Naruto anything advanced, saying that it was forbidden until Naruto had become a full fledged Shinobi. No matter how hard Naruto thought about it only one solution came to mind. "I wonder if it would be easier if I tried using up most of my chakra first?"

Of course Naruto knew of the dangers, but he was sick of having no progress whatsoever, and at this point would be willing to do anything. "Okay, here goes!" Clasping his hands together Naruto once again channeled his chakra, though this time he wasn't trying to use any jutsu. Letting all of his chakra rush out was quite painful, and Naruto had a vague memory of feeling something like this before with another of his friends. Letting out a strangled cry pain filled Naruto's extremities, and for a moment he was sure his body was about to rip itself apart.

The ground at his feet began to sink in from the pressure he was exerting, before too long Naruto found himself on his knees gasping for breath. "That should do it.." Forcing himself back to his feet he put his hands into the needed seal and channeled his chakra once again. In a small puff of smoke another Naruto appeared, though only for a second before it disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto felt like he was about to lose consciousness. "What did you expect, using up all that chakra." The fox echoed in the back of his head.

"Shut up.. it worked." That was good enough for Naruto. "All I need to do is the same thing during the test." The plan was completely foolproof in Naruto's opinion. "If the clone doesn't last for more than a second, you'll still fail." The fox pointed out, effectively breaking the kids bubble. "Then I'll just work on that." Naruto said shaking off his nausea and getting back into his zone. Clasping his hands once more Naruto tried to use as little chakra as possible, something he found to be much easier now that he barely had any left.

Before the jutsu could activate Naruto fell face first onto the ground out cold, where he would lay for the next hour. Slowly opening his eyes the first thing Naruto noticed was that the sun had set almost completely engulfing the land in twilight. "What the hell happened?" Naruto said forcing his sore body into a sitting position. "You lost consciousness." Was the fox's helpful response. "Thanks never would of figured that one out." Naruto noticed with a small amount of discomfort that the front of his shirt was covered in a red substance.

"What is this?" Naruto said running a finger over the mostly dry stain on his shirt. "You hit your face when you fell, you were bleeding." That explained it, Naruto reached up and touched his face, a very similar sticky substance covering his lower face, the origin of which happened to be his nose. "I guess this shirt is ruined." Naruto stripped off such object, sure he could have waited till he got home, but on the off chance a villager saw him walking through the village in bloody clothes and decided to restart the rumors of him going around killing the villages children, he just though it better to take off the piece of clothing.

Naruto had been sore before, but nothing like this and the bad thing was he hadn't even finished his exercises yet. Just when he was about to say screw it and go home, a pain that he hadn't felt in quite a while assaulted his senses. "Fine, I'll keep training." Naruto said grabbing his head trying to will the pain away, even after all these years Naruto had no way of stopping the fox from using that particular trick, though he usually refrained from it. Standing Naruto began to go through the kata for the style th fox had been teaching him.

Naruto was nowhere near a master fighter, but he still thought he knew the moves enough to where practicing them wasn't really helping him anymore. The fox however thought differently, apparently he was quite the stickler for form, which was odd. Considering the more Naruto thought of it the less it made sense, the fox didn't have a human body, so why would he know any kind of martial art, let alone be so strict when it came to learning it. Naruto's body was in perfect condition, at least in his own humble opinion, he had been training for upwards of three hours a day for the last four years after all.

The only thing that he truly lacked was experience, something that was hard to come by when one was still in the academy. Sparring once a month wasn't nearly enough for Naruto to get a feel for how a real battle would proceed. Sure he had the occasional spar with Kiba, but that was just a joke, the kid didn't stand a chance against him, so fighting him wasn't helping either. There was only one person Naruto knew that could help him in the way he needed it, unfortunately there was no way that Naruto would ever get the help of Sasuke Uchiha.

Even if the boy would be willing, Naruto was not, and that's all there was to it. It may have been stupid and stubborn, but something about the Uchiha had always rubbed him the wrong way. Naruto finished one set and took a quick break, running over to where he had left his supplies, he grabbed his canteen and took a long drink. Today was one of those days where the fox was feeling impatient, because less than five minutes later he felt a small sting in the back of his head, the fox's way of telling him to get back to work without actually telling him.

Naruto had mastered four of the sets for the martial art he was practicing. He wasn't even sure what it was called, the demon had said he couldn't remember as it had been too long. Each set took maybe thirty minutes to complete, and while they weren't overly strenuous, Naruto still found himself getting annoyed going over them. It would be different had the fox been teaching him anything new, but that hadn't happened in well over a year. In the fox's words, he wasn't ready yet, Naruto wasn't sure how ready he needed to be, but one thing was for sure, doing the same thing over everyday wasn't helping him anymore.

By the time he had finished his kata, the moon was high in the sky. Naruto would have called it quites there but knew that the fox wanted him to do his physical conditioning as well. So climbing one of the nearby large trees, Naruto climbed up and hooked his knees around one of the thick branches so that he was hanging upside down. "One... Two... Three..." He counted off as he did his vertical sit ups. 'Always push yourself further.' It was something his strange neighbor had told him, that as long as he tried harder everyday he would never stop getting stronger.

Of course the man also ran around in green spandex yelling about youth, so Naruto wasn't sure how good of a ninja he was. "Seventy... Seventy-one..." This much was easy, Naruto tapped out closer to two hundred nowadays. As long as he kept his breathing even he was hoping to get upwards of two fifty today. It was funny to Naruto how civilians lived without chakra, if a regular human tried to push themselves like this the only thing they would accomplish would be to wreck their bodies. Which of course was why learning how to harness the energy was so important.

"One-ninty-seven." Naruto breathed out heavily a thick coating of sweat now covering his body, dropping down from his perch Naruto proceeded to shed his shirt. Throwing it to the ground Naruto began running, twenty laps around the training grounds, it wasn't nearly as much as it sounded, and was more of a way for Naruto to cool himself down than for the exercise. Coming to a stop Naruto bent over hands on his knees. "Is that enough asshole?" Naruto asked the air, anyone around would probably think him crazy assuming that they didn't already.

The message was received loud and clear though, and with a grumbling laugh the fox answered. "Good enough, but I expect more out of you." Naruto rolled his eyes, something that the fox couldn't see, he could feel Naruto's annoyance however. "You'll thank me someday." The fox said, it was something he was fond of saying, and made a habit of it at least every other day. "Yes thank you almighty demon fox for running me into the ground everyday, and never teaching me shit." Naruto was tired and didn't feel like playing mister nice guy, especially not for the bane of his existence.

"Watch your tongue boy, before I rip it out." The fox growled, causing Naruto to laugh out loud. "I'd like to see that." A sudden vision entered Naruto's mind, that of a large grinning fox, viciously shoving his hand into Naruto's mouth, and pulling out a pink writhing organ, before crushing it in his grasp as the blonde boy fell to the ground choking to death on his own blood. Naruto couldn't help the shiver that ran up his spine. "Not cool." Naruto muttered, only for the fox laugh darkly. "You said you wanted to see it."

Naruto walked the darkened streets of Konoha, an odd feeling prickling at the base of his skull. It was a feeling he'd had before, though he was unsure what it meant. He felt jumpier than normal, as exhibited when he found himself startled at the sound of some stray animal. Smacking the sides of his face, he set his expression into that of a hardened ninja, or what he assumed one would look like. "Someone's following us." The fox's warning came, and that was all the proof Naruto needed to know it was true.

The fox was a lot of things, but when it came to things that could potentially harm the both of them, he had always been very serious. Ducking into a nearby alleyway, Naruto hoped to take cover, forming his hands into a seal he was about to perform his jutsu. "No good, it won't work." The fox warned again, so instead Naruto began walking faster, moving erratically through the back alleys of Konoha hoping to lose whoever it was. 'How strong is he?' Naruto thought to the fox, hoping for a positive answer.

"Much stronger than you, you wouldn't survive." Well that was just great, Naruto focused on keeping his calm, even if the fox thought he didn't have a chance, that didn't mean he would just lay down and die. Picking up his pace Naruto was now running through the streets, and to anyone looking on they would probably assume the boy to have finally snapped, as there looked to be nothing chasing him. Only well trained shinobi would have a chance of catching the fast shadow that leapt from roof to roof clad entirely in black.

Coming to a stop near the village's gate Naruto turned to face his pursuer, he had run this way in the hope that someone would still be on duty, but it seemed luck was not on the blonde boy's side today. Focusing his chakra and straining his senses Naruto tried to pin point his invisible pursuer, to no avail, whoever it was, he was too powerful for Naruto's mind reading to have any affect. "I would ask that you come with me." A voice spoke up behind him, acting on instinct Naruto spun trying to strike the enemy with a backhand.

Naruto could only gulp as the figure caught his hand with no effort what so ever, Naruto couldn't tell if it was male or female, the person was wearing a black body suit complete with mask, and with the darkness hampering Naruto's vision, he could see almost nothing. "Please refrain from acting in a violent or non compliant way, or I will be forced to respond in kind." Jerking his hand from the person's grip, Naruto attempted a roundhouse kick, that turned out to be no more effective. Even the person's voice was indistinct.

The figure leaned back ever so slightly avoiding the roundhouse. "I see that is unfortunate." With those words the shadowy figure struck quickly before Naruto could recover from his failed attack, hitting him once in the stomach, and a second time in the jugular. It wasn't a kill strike, but that didn't mean it felt good as the sudden lack of oxygen made Naruto panic. To Naruto's surprise the figure waited for him to recover from the attack, standing by like an obedient soldier. "I am under orders not to hurt you anymore than necessary."

'That's good to know.' Naruto thought getting into a combat stance, that at least meant that he didn't have to worry about dying which of course meant that there was no reason not to at least try to fight the person. Acting quickly Naruto shot towards the figure like a rocket, a move that wasn't quite needed as they were only feet from each other, either way Naruto pushed himself, attacking as fast as his body would allow, punch after punch Naruto threw and each time the figure blocked, letting Naruto's small fists strike the palms of his hands.

The figure didn't seem interested in fighting back at first, seeing fit to allow the boy to wear himself out. Naruto knew he was at a disadvantage, he couldn't read his opponent something he had begun to rely on, maybe too heavily as he was now discovering, dropping quickly Naruto slid in between his opponents legs kicking upwards as he did so. Naruto got excited as his attack hit home, at least until he realized that his attack had not accomplished anything other than to hurt his own leg. "What the heck!" Naruto said rubbing his leg at the point of contact, it felt as though he had kicked a solid stone wall.

Before Naruto could react the figure grabbed him by the neck raising him high into the air, the person's grip increasing in power by the second. Naruto could swear his neck was about to break, kicking his feet as hard as he could he struck the figure in the chest over and over again, though once again only managed to hurt himself. 'Am I really still this weak, after all this training, have I not gotten any better.' Naruto couldn't stop the thoughts as they began to rampage throughout his mind, leading to a serious case of self doubt.

"Calm down boy, if you don't get yourself under control you are as good as dead." The fox was right of course, and just knowing that someone was there with him was enough to help Naruto gain control of himself again. Relaxing his body Naruto began trying to think of a plan, 'if only Shikamaru where here, he's better with this junk than I am.' Suddenly the figures group started to lessen, it took only a second for Naruto to realize why. 'He thinks I'm unconcious.' Sure enough when Naruto stopped struggling the figure began to believe that the boy had lost consciousness.

'Fox can you tell if he's using a jutsu?' Naruto thought a plan beginning to form, the fox could immediately see where the boy was going with this. "Yes he is, though I can't feel what kind." Naruto continued to play dead as the figure placed him lightly on the ground. 'That's fine I think I already know, just tell me if he drops it.' The fox made a noise of agreement before growing silent, the figure bent down checking Naruto's pulse. Naruto tried to remain as calm as possible, keeping his heart from beating to erratically.

He could feel the figure's breath on his face, but Naruto knew better than to open his eyes, lest his plan fail. He wasn't good at sensing chakra, but luckily it was something that the fox excelled at. "Now!" He heard the fox yell, acting immediately Naruto shot up from his position headbutting the figure with all the force he could muster. He felt he could breath a quick sigh of release, when he heard his assailant grunt in pain, that at least meant that his plan had been somewhat effective. Not wanting to lose the small advantage he had gained Naruto pressed the figure.

Leaning back down Naruto brought his legs upwards kicking the figure in the chest with full force. He only managed to slightly lift him, but that was enough. Pulling back Naruto shoved his leg into what he was hoping would be a very tender area for the figure. He proved to be correct as the figure, which he could now assume to be a man, grabbed at the now very sore area. Getting up to his feet as quick as possible Naruto spun cracking the man in the side of the face with a powerful kick, knocking him sideways onto the ground.

Jumping on top of his downed opponent Naruto proceeded to brutally attempt to cave in the man's face with his fists. He struck the man again and again, each time the sound of his fist's meeting flesh became more and more grotesque in nature. After almost three minutes of this Naruto had calmed down enough to pull himself away from the man, blood dripped from his cut and bruised knuckles, but he assumed that the mans cloth covered face looked much worse. Naruto couldn't help it as he spit onto the man's downed form. "That's what you get for underestimating me."

Naruto began to walk away, he was out of breath and his heart was beating out of his chest, but he was proud of himself. Whoever that guy was Naruto was sure that he was a fully trained shinobi, which meant that Naruto had managed to beat someone that most chunin wouldn't be able to touch. Naruto's thoughts were cut short as a powerful blow to the back of his head knocked him to the ground. Laying on the ground Naruto could barely think through the pain, and only barely registered as he was lifted up by his hair.

"It is unfortunate, that I had to take this route." The man spoke turning and throwing Naruto forcefully to the ground, his back hitting the hard ground with an audible smack. Something inside of him must have been damaged, as Naruto found himself coughing uncontrollably, blood staining the ground in front of him. "I... put you.. down." Naruto said in between breathes, doing his best to shakily stand to his feet, and look the man in the eye. Naruto couldn't react in time as the man rushed towards him, planting his fist firmly in Naruto's gut.

Blood and bile was forced from Naruto's body as the force of the blow lifted him off of the ground, spraying the clothes of his assailant. The man followed this up with another strike to Naruto's chin lifting him even futher into the air. He then procedded to grab Naruto by the throat once again, before looking him into the eye. "I fear that you have overestimated yourself child." He squeezed tighter, Naruto felt like his neck was going to snap, and felt that his playing possum wouldn't work a second time.

Before Naruto could lose consciousness the man walked over to a nearby building and slammed him harshly against the wall. Naruto could barely feel the pain at this point, the man seemed to be squeezing just hard enough to ensure that he wouldn't pass out from lack of oxygen. Suddenly the man released his grip much to Naruto's surprise, and allowed Naruto to slide down to the ground. "Are you willing to cooperate now." The man said taking a step back, like he was trying to show Naruto that if he just agreed he would now longer hurt him.

Naruto weakly moved his head up to look at the tall man, even this much taking more energy than Naruto felt he had left. "Go... fuck yourself." Naruto spit out, glaring heatedly at the man. If there was one thing Naruto would never allow himself to do, it was give in. "If that is your response." The man bent down to eye level with Naruto, before grabbing him by the arm and forcing him into a standing position. Naruto's legs could barely support his weight at this point, but that didn't stop him from trying, as he threw a weak punch at the man.

The attack did nothing, only serving to maybe make the man angrier, if he even felt anything at all, from the cold voice and mannerisms Naruto would almost swear he was a robot. A bright flash of light blinded Naruto for just a moment, and he felt the man release his arm, causing him to fall down. More light continuously rained down upon them making hard for Naruto to keep his eyes open. He could hear the sounds of a scuffle, before everything went silent, the whole thing only lasted a few minutes at most, but by the time Naruto opened his eyes again the man was gone.

"What the hell?" All around Naruto the ground was scorched, and Naruto could only guess it was done by a fire jutsu. When he forced himself he found that he was at least able to move a little, it took a moment but he was eventually able to pull himself to his feet. It was going to be a long walk home, but Naruto wasn't about to let himself lose consciousness in the middle of the street, only Kami knows what anyone that found him would do. Besides if the man that attacked him had friends, he had no way of protecting himself.

If he could make it home, there was at least a chance that someone would be there to help him namely Yugao. He didn't have time to really think over what had just happened, or who had saved his life. Every bit of his energy was being used just putting one foot in front of the other. Thirty minutes passed before he made it back to his small apartment, opening up the door and stepping inside, a feeling of relief washed over him at the sight of a purple haired girl sitting at his couch. Finally he could let himself rest, and with that thought he fell hitting the ground with a loud crash.

"Naruto! What's wrong!?"

End.

A/N: I'll be getting to the graduation test next chapter, I just want to thank everyone who has read my story, and hope everyone will continue to enjoy it, till next time. Please read and review.


	17. Graduation Exam Start

Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 17

Graduation Exam Start

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

Naruto snapped his eyes open, sitting up rather abruptly, he regretted the action as soon as it was done, a sharp pain shooting through his back. The scent of antiseptic, and the pure white walls were a familiar sight, though not a welcome one. He could feel that he was only wearing a hospital gown underneath the sheets of his small hospital bed. It definitely wasn't the first time he had woken up in a hospital, and he had a feeling that it wouldn't be the last, the difference was usually it had something to do with training, instead of getting his ass kicked.

Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed Naruto stood unsteadily, first things first, he had to find his clothes. He had no intention of spending the day in a hospital bed, and if that meant he had to run that was what he would do. Making his way over to the cabinet in the room, he found his possessions all sealed up in a neat plastic bag. Getting dressed quickly, Naruto made his way over to the large window, no doubt there would be someone keeping watch on the other side of the door, but it was almost unheard of for them to post someone outside the windows.

Pulling open the blinds, Naruto's heart dropped a bit, apparently they had gotten to used to Naruto's tactics as seen by the prison bars they had put over his window. Almost as soon as he had seen this the door to his hospital room was slide open. "Uzumaki?" The young nurse asked a clipboard in her hand, she stared at him strangely and slowly he closed the blinds back, before sitting on the bed. "Uh.. yeah that's me." Naruto answered trying to find another way out of the room, his eyes darting to the door behind the woman.

He could see that there was definitely an Anbu standing right outside. Sighing he sunk into the bed a bit more, giving up the battle. He didn't really have the energy to outrun any Anbu right now, hell he probably wouldn't be able to outrun even his classmates right now. "You had a few fractures, and some internal bleeding, but with a few days of rest you'll be okay." Naruto was jumping for joy internally obviously the girl was about to let him leave. "Of course we'd like to keep you a while longer to be sure." Naruto cursed under his breath.

No doubt the old man was responsible for this, well either him or a certain purple haired Anbu. "I'd rather leave." Naruto spoke up standing and making his way over to the door, ignoring the nurses protests. As he walked out of the room however the Anbu stepped into his path, grabbing him by the shoulder and turning him around before pushing him back into the room. Just as he thought, he was pretty much a prisoner right now, and there was no chance of him pushing his way past the Anbu on guard.

So with a bit of disappointment Naruto trudged back to his hospital bed and sat with a huff. The nurse took her leave after asking Naruto a few of the routine questions, so now Naruto was alone. With nothing better to do Naruto began going through some basic exercises, he still needed to master the clone jutsu after all. The Anbu outside checked on him every hour or so, but for the most part Naruto was alone for the day. At around Five in the afternoon, the door slide open, Naruto expected to see the bear masked Anbu walk in.

"Who are you?" Naruto said looking at the strange old man, he was covered in bandages, to the point where Naruto wondered how he was even standing. "You are Uzumaki, correct." The man said stroking his chin. Naruto tried to keep from staring at the mans one eyed visage, he didn't know the man, but that was no reason to be rude. "Yeah I'm Naruto Uzumaki." He didn't see a problem answering the mans questions. "Good, I was afraid I might have the wrong room." The bandaged man gave a sincere smile, walking forward his hand outstretched.

"My name is Danzo, and I believe I have a proposal you may want to consider." Naruto shook the old man's outstretched hand with just a little force. It was odd for someone this man's age to not go for the more traditional bow, not that Naruto minded maybe that meant he wasn't as stuck up as some of the other villagers. "You see I run a very special department in the leaf village." Naruto was listening, he would be lying if he said the man didn't already have his attention. "One dedicated to the protection of the village itself."

Naruto listened intently as Danzo explained his proposition, in all the man went on for close to thirty minutes, which wasn't that bad considering that Naruto was used to sitting through Iruka's lectures. "So you want me to join root?" Naruto just wanted to make sure him and Danzo where on the same page right now. "Yes, I think you would make an excellent addition, of course there is an exam that you'll have to pass first, but judging from your scores at the academy I don't think it will give you any trouble."

Naruto was still trying to decide if he should trust this man or not, he was powerful that was for sure, Naruto had already tried to pry into the grizzled man's mind to no avail. "Can I think about it?" Naruto asked unsure. He wanted to at least ask the Hokage about this, seeing as he had never heard of any organization called root in the village. Danzo had explained that they were very secretive even so Naruto would feel better about it if he talked to the old man. "Of course, just keep in mind this is not a permanent thing, I will need your answer soon."

"For sure, I just think I should think it through first." Naruto said with a smile, rubbing the back of his head. Danzo bid his farewell before departing the room, he waited till he was out of sight before letting the annoyance show on his face. "Hawk." Without any sound whatsoever a man wearing the standard Anbu uniform. "Yes lord Danzo." He said bowing on one knee, the hospitals halls were oddly empty at this section, allowing Danzo to speak without fear of being overheard. "Keep an eye on the boy, if he attempts to speak to the Hokage inform me."

"Of course my lord." With that 'Hawk' vanished leaving behind no trace. "Well boy, either you join me, or I will have to dispose of you." There was just a hint of reluctance in the old mans voice. "It would be such a shame, you could make quite the weapon." Danzo pulled a paper out of his pocket reading it over for what was probably the hundredth time. "So Hiruzen, I wonder why you didn't tell me of this particular mutation." Danzo said stroking his chin in habit, before folding the paper and placing it lightly back in his pocket.

Naruto sneezed loudly, 'huh someone must be talkin' about me.' he thought before turning back to the person who had just entered the room. "So old man, what's up." 'Old man' otherwise known as the third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, smiled lightly at the boy, puffing on his pipe. Obviously the hospital's no smoking policy didn't apply to the village leader. "Well Naruto-kun, I'd like to know exactly what happened to you last night." That was what Naruto figured he was there for, of course something about it was odd.

"Yeah but why're you here?" Hiruzen seemed put off by the question. "I don't believe I understand what you're asking." He said taking a long drag, to which Naruto made a show of coughing uncontrollably. Taking the hint the mighty third Hokage snuffed out the pipe before placing it in an ornamental box that he kept inside of his robes. "I mean normally you'd just send some Anbu to get my story, or call me to your office." In all of his life, Naruto could never remember the old man taking the time to come see him personally.

"I was worried, and between you and me, sometimes it's nice to get out of that office." Hiruzen whispered semi conspiratorially, getting close to Naruto's ear. The old man really could be odd sometimes but maybe that was why Naruto trusted him so much, people who were serious all the time usually had something to hide. "I can't remember that much, just some guy dressed in black attacking me." Hiruzen raised an eyebrow, he already had an idea of just who might be behind this. "Did he say anything?"

Naruto tried to think, the man hadn't said much at all, and nothing that really stood out. "He wasn't trying to kill me, he said that someone wanted to see me or something." Hiruzen nodded with that his suspicions were all but confirmed. "That's it really, the guy disappeared." Naruto didn't feel like mentioning the person who had saved him, whoever it was. After all Naruto hadn't even seen the person's face, his eyes being closed the whole time. "Well if that's it, I'll let you get some rest, I hear they'll be releasing you tomorrow morning."

Naruto groaned he wasn't sure he could take spending the whole night in this prison. "Can't you make them let me go?" Naruto was borderline whining, but that just showed how much he hated the idea of spending any more time in a hospital room. "I probably could." Hiruzen answered in a way that made Naruto believe he was considering it. "But it might be nice if you couldn't get in trouble for one night." The old man said smiling and giving a final wave before exiting the room. "Damn old man." Naruto muttered under his breath.

"I heard that." A call came from the opposite side of his door, 'that old man has super hearing or something.' Naruto thought waiting to hear footsteps walking away from the door. Jumping out of bed once he was sure that the Hokage was gone, Naruto got back to his exercises, the clock was ticking and if he couldn't master the clone jutsu in time, who knows how long it would be before he could try again. Well Naruto did know that, six months that was how long he would have to wait, by all rights he could have taken the test already.

Anyone with a parent or guardians permission can try to pass the exam at any age, and Naruto being an orphan could have done so without anyone's permission. However he hadn't seen the point he knew he would have failed, the fox had made that very clear, along with the fact that for whatever reason he needed to graduate at the same time as Sasuke. Naruto had questioned the fox about this, but all the information he could get was that it had to do with bringing Miru back, and if Naruto kept asking too many questions the deal was off.

The next morning came much too slowly for Naruto's liking, he was unable to sleep in the strange bed, the thought of people being able to enter while he was asleep put him on edge. He hadn't even realized until the Hokage had left that he had forgotten to ask him about Root. "You should take his offer." The fox spoke up, causing Naruto to let out an annoyed sigh. He had long since gotten used to not having privacy even in his own head, but that didn't mean he liked being reminded about it early in the morning.

"Why is that, seemed kinda suspicion to me." Naruto shared his thoughts, not that the fox didn't already know how he felt about it. "They are willing to spend resources training you, resources you won't have access to for quite a long time otherwise." The fox explained trying to persuade the boy, the stronger his host was the happier he would be after all. "I don't know, I'll think about it." The fox let out a low threatening growl, nothing Naruto wasn't used to. Sure the pain of the fox flooding his chakra network with potent demon energy wasn't the most pleasant of feelings, but Naruto wasn't going to let it control everything about him.

Naruto was released not long after as promised, and instead of going to class, he headed straight for the training fields. Worst case scenario Naruto could just skim the answers to the final exam from Haruno's head, but if he couldn't master the clone jutsu in time he was screwed anyway. This led to Naruto not showing up for class for the entirety of the remaining two weeks, at least not until the day of the exam. It hadn't been easy, but Naruto felt that his proficiency in the clone jutsu was now enough to let him pass.

"Alright class, todays the graduation exam anyone who passes this will be officially recognized as a full fledged ninja of Konoha." Iruka said as he entered the room, before handing out papers to each student, afterwards starting a speech about the responsibility they were all undertaking. Naruto didn't pay much attention to this, he got a couple dirty looks from one certain blonde haired girl, of course that was expected, up until just a couple weeks before they had spent almost everyday together, along with Hinata.

Naruto was sure the girls ire stemmed from the fact that Naruto had not told her he wouldn't be coming to school for the last couple weeks. The most surprising thing to Naruto was that the strange old man Danzo never returned after his first meeting with the man. Danzo had been quite clear that the offer was only for a limited time, and yet he hadn't returned for Naruto's answer. Naruto hadn't truly come to a decision anyway, sure the promise of exclusive training, was quite the incentive but Naruto felt that he should achieve his dreams himself, without too much help.

Of course Naruto wasn't so prideful to not realize that without a sensei he wouldn't have a chance in hell of becoming Hokage, but the last thing Naruto wanted was to have everything he wanted handed to him, he would rather work for it. In Naruto's mind he hadn't earned the kind of opportunity that Danzo had offered him, and besides that the man just seemed shifty. Naruto obtained his paper, placing it face down in front of him, waiting for Iruka to tell them they could start. Naruto could tell that Mikomi wanted to talk to him, but the rules were quite strict when it came to this test, even though it had yet to start speaking could result in immediate failure.

Iruka's speech seemed to be going on forever, and by the time that they were told to start, Naruto was almost positive they had been there for a couple hours. Flipping over the paper Naruto eyed the questions carefully, and sure enough he knew the answers. At least he wouldn't need to waste any chakra to get the answers, it was a good idea for Naruto to take the last two weeks off to focus on his clones. Sure his grades had probably plummeted in that time, he actually wouldn't be surprised if he was the dead last now, but to Naruto that was just a title, what really mattered was graduating, not the scores on some sheet of paper.

Taking a deep breath Naruto started powering through the questions, he may have known most of the answers, but that didn't mean the test wasn't exhausting. Ranging from the history of the shinobi nations, to what made chakra work, the test totaled out at just over a hundred and twenty questions. All in all it took Naruto around forty five minutes to complete the portion, not bad since the time limit was a full hour. Making sure to put his name on the paper Naruto flipped the test face down and began the agonizing wait for time to be up.

After this Naruto had to follow the rest of his class outside with Iruka, Naruto had expected this portion, and had a feeling of what it would compose of. Leading them to a small target range Iruka began to explain the next portion. "Next up is the shuriken jutsu portion of the exam, you will all be judged by the amount of points you can score using a total of ten shuriken and ten kunai." Finishing his brief explanation Iruka called out the names of the first four students. Naruto knew he had a while to wait, knowing that Iruka was calling people by their last name, and he was one of the last on the list.

Naruto remembered a taking this same test before, of course that was the entrance exam, and Naruto also remembered failing horribly, with only one of his throwing blades actually reaching the targets. Watching as the first four finished up, Naruto saw that of the four the only one that could really be considered above average, was Shino Aburame. Naruto had spoken to the boy maybe four times in the last four years, but that didn't mean he knew nothing about the sensitive boy. Shino, like Naruto had almost no friends, though that had more to do with his clan structure, than people not liking him.

Shino was one of the people Naruto felt he connected with the best, back when he was first learning the basics of his mind reading abilities from the nine tails, Shino was one of his main targets. So knowing things such as the bugs that were housed in the young boys body, and how much he truly cared for others was something Naruto was very familiar with. Naruto was brought from his memories when the next batch of students approached the targets. He was not overly familiar with any of these ones, to him they might as well have been faceless statues, with no real relevance.

So the test continued, and finally Naruto's name was called, along with Sasuke Uchiha, Ino Yamanaka, and to his surprise Mikomi, who's last name he had never asked. "Mikomi Utsunomiya?" Naruto tested the name on his tongue, to him at least it fit. He hadn't expected to have so much competition for this portion, not that he minded. 'I never practised shuriken all that much.' He thought, a long time ago he had set up some shuriken traps, but that was to practice deflecting shuriken, nothing else.

On Iruka's word Naruto drew his first handful of shuriken, he wasn't dumb enough, or skilled enough to throw them all at once, something he noticed that Sasuke had done. Taking his time Naruto began throwing the blades, three at a time. He could be proud of the result, while in all he had only hit the bullseye about four times, he hadn't missed the target once, insuring that he had passed the portion. The biggest surprise would have to be that Sasuke hadn't gotten a perfect score, missing the center with only one kunai.

This meant that Mikomi was the only student to do so, Naruto began to wonder just how skilled the girl really was. Also taking a moment to realize that in the time Naruto had taken off, she had begun to carry the large book that she'd had since the beginning of the year in a sling over her shoulder. Someday he would like to know just why that particular book was so important to the girl, he had asked before, and while the two were indeed good friends she had said that she just didn't feel comfortable talking about it.

Waiting for the class to settle down Iruka had them follow him over to a very familiar ring, the same one that Naruto had forced to many a classmate to eat dirt. "Alright class, I'm sure you all saw this one coming, we will now start the one on one matches." Of course everyone was paying attention now, even the kunoichi that seemed to never do anything other than stare at Sasuke. "Today's matches will be different however, instead of random opponents, you will be placed according to skill, of course as this is a taijutsu test, you are still not allowed to use jutsu of any kind."

"First up is.. Sakura Haruno vs Mikomi Utsunomiya." She may not have been his favorite person, but Naruto began to feel bad for the pink haired girl. Sure as far as the school was concerned she was the top female student, but that was mostly due to her academic scores. Which happened to be so perfect that some had come to call her the Shinobi Encyclopedia. However that wasn't going to help her here, a physical fight was something that Naruto could tell the girl had no real experience in, that was mostly due to her having civilian parents.

Most of the children that decided to become ninja's did so because family honor dictated it, but Sakura was different, and while he knew she disliked him quite a bit, for whatever reason. Naruto could not fault her reason's for becoming a ninja. To become a stronger person, one who could stand up for themselves. To some this may have sounded like a dumb reason to dedicate one's life to combat, but Naruto had seen inside the pink haired girls head, and had seen the bullying she had gone through, from well before she had joined the academy.

Some of the memories were so horrible that he was fairly positive she had completely blocked them out. For all he knew she thought she was born in the leaf village, and it wasn't Naruto's place to reveal the truth to her. Besides, he knew how she felt about him, and while he couldn't hate her, the feeling was not mutual, as far as he could tell. Someday he would find the reason for this, it just wasn't exactly at the top of his list. Naruto was brought from his thoughts when he saw Sakura charge straight for Mikomi.

Of course this didn't work out very well, as shown when Sakura's punch was evaded completely and countered with a right hook that sent the girl reeling. Naruto was actually surprised when the pink haired girl managed to remain standing, a fierce look in her emerald green eyes. Anyone could tell the girl was out of her league, all year Mikomi had dominated every spar she had been in. That may well have been the reason for this match up though, because while in Naruto's eyes Sakura was below average, that was because he was comparing her to clan children who had been trained to fight from the time they could walk.

However when it came to all the other kids in the academy, no one worked harder. Many of the girls had begun training harder this year, a rumor of Sasuke only liking strong ninjas may have been the catalyst. Naruto would have liked to take credit for that one but it wasn't him, and he couldn't be sure who it was. One thing though, while Naruto was sure that the other girl's got stronger for Sasuke, he had a suspicion that while it may have started that way for Sakura she had continued because of a true aspiration to become a great ninja.

Mikomi was faster, by a large margin, she easily danced between Sakura's slow and sloppy punches, however Mikomi while excelling in speed combat, lacked severely in physical strength. Making so that even though she had been pelting Sakura with quick blows, they seemed to have very little effect at all, something that Sakura would do well to capitalize on. It became increasingly obvious that this match would not be over any time soon. Mikomi was moving much to fast to keep up her stamina forever, and her punches were doing so little damage it was almost embarrassing.

Sakura on the other hand, was much slower, being completely unable to touch the much speedier girl. Naruto knew from experience that Sakura was not physically weak, just unskilled, he had been on the receiving end of her anger once or twice, that was years ago, but Naruto couldn't imagine her doing anything but getting stronger. Naruto could remember back when he had first talked to the girl, back then the hatred he could feel from her now was no where to be seen, in its place just a mild annoyance, for the little blonde boy that was always trying to speak to her.

"There it is." Naruto muttered gaining Iruka's attention, all it took was a small mistake. Mikomi failed to stay on the balls of her feet, and so was unable to dodge Sakura's strike. Everyone stood in silence as the sound of bones cracking filled the air, Mikomi was sent flying away, rolling like a rag doll until her back struck the sole oak tree in the clearing. Even Naruto could only stare at Sakura in shock, no one had really noticed how angry she had slowly become. "Take that, like an annoying freakin mosquito, cha."

Naruto and Iruka were the first ones to run over to check on the downed girl, Hinata not far behind. "Byakugan!" She said louder than Naruto had ever heard her speak, after a few moments of staring she turned to Iruka. "She's g-got five b-broken ribs." Her stutter had gotten better over the course of the last year but Naruto doubted it would ever truly disappear. "Move, outta the way!" A kunoichi dressed in white scrubs yelled pushing everyone away from Mikomi's downed body. "There's likely to be some internal bleeding." She spoke to herself, as her palms began to emit a faint green light.

At this point Sakura seemed to notice how much she had actually injured her opponent. "Iruka-sensei, will she be okay?" Her voice was hesitant as she slowly approached from behind them. Naruto couldn't help the small amount of ominous energy that radiated from his body, he was well aware that it was an accident, he could see it on her face when the blow struck. Sakura had no clue that she was that strong, heck Naruto wasn't sure that strength like that was even human. "I hope so." Iruka said letting out a sigh, as he stood back to his feet.

"Winner of the match, Mikomi Utsunomiya." Everyone stared at Iruka in confusion. "Sakura Haruno loses by forfeit due to using jutsu during the match." Now every one was more confused, Iruka couldn't blame them, he doubted Sakura even knew what she had done. 'To be so adept at chakra control to use one of the great sannin's techniques by accident, this girl might just be a genius.' He thought walking back over to stand by the side of the arena. "Next match, Kiba Inuzuka vs. Shino Aburame."

End.

A/N: The graduation exam has finally started, I like Sakura as a character but as most people do I feel that she just didn't have enough real talent in the beginning, so I'm going to try and give her a bit more potential. Please read and review.


	18. Cheated

Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 18

Cheated

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

"Lets go bug boy." Kiba said a feral grin on his mug, his teeth seemed unnaturally sharp, as they glinted in the light. "Very well Kiba." Shino said getting into his preferred combat stance, with one arm low to the ground and the other up close to his chest. Kiba similarly bent down with his arms stretched wide, fingers splayed as though he planned to scratch the other boy. "Begin." Iruka called lowering his arm and jumping back to allow the two boy's to go after each other. Kiba's fast strikes, and wide slashes quickly backed Shino into a corner.

Shino couldn't do much when it came to hand to hand combat, his clan didn't teach much about it seeing as they were focused mainly on long range combat. He could dodge though, which is exactly what he did, he would wait. Kiba was so wild when fighting there was no way that the boy wouldn't make a mistake at some point. Shino took a quick step back when Kiba launched forward a bit faster than before, it seemed he just wasn't fast enough, as Kiba's hands ripped through Shino's gray colored jacket.

Even without using the jutsu to accompany his taijutsu, Kiba was not weak, as apposed to Mikomi who relied on her pure speed to fight, Kiba had power to back it up. Luckily the strike had just been a glancing blow, and Shino was far from ready to give up. Shino like most Aburame did not like to show emotion, of course this did not mean that they didn't have emotions. Unlike most of his clansmen though Shino enjoyed battle, he loved the feeling of getting stronger and pushing his limits past where they were ever supposed to go.

Kiba came in for another quick slash, Shino was ready this time however, grabbing Kiba by his wrist he spun around behind the boy. Pinning his arm behind him Shino managed to strike Kiba hard in the back of his head with an elbow. Kiba's vision went blurry for a split second, and knowing that his current position was a bad one, used as much of his strength to wrestle his arm away from his opponent. This may not have been the best idea though as Kiba felt his arm erupt in a splitting pain, and found that it would no longer move.

"What the hell did you do!?" Kiba growled out turning to face Shino. Shino merely adjusted his sunglasses. "I did not do anything, you however just broke your arm." Kiba could tell that much but, was unable to figure out exactly how it had happened. Iruka had seen it happen, Kiba had a habit of not thinking while in a fight, so instead of realizing that trying to forcefully remove his arm from Shino's hold would not be a great idea, he did just that without thinking. The result was Kiba's arm now broken at the shoulder.

Kiba got back in his stance, one arm now hanging limply. It was apparent that he had no intention of quiting over something like this. Iruka rubbed the bridge of his nose, this was always a problem with the exam. They would pair up kids to fight, with the knowledge of how to severly injure each other, and more or less just hope that nothing too bad happened. "Stop!" Iruka called just as Kiba was about to charge again, he didn't really have a choice. "This fights over, I'm calling it." Kiba's face contorted to one of anger, he was not happy with the decision.

"Sensei, I can win, let me fight!" Truthfully if Kiba weren't so rash he probably would have won easily, but the simple fact was that if Iruka allowed him to continue fighting in this manner, the young boy might have his career end well before it has a chance to start. "I'm sorry Kiba, but I can't let you continue with that injury." Kiba let out a growl, while a small white puppy just outside of the ring began barking ferociously at Iruka. This may have been intimidating if the dog were over ten pounds, but Kiba's ninja hound was still very young.

"This is bullshit!" Kiba stormed off of the field, "C'mon Akamaru." With a short bark the small white puppy trotted after its master. Iruka could understand why he was angry, to the Inuzuka clan being strong was everything, only just below teamwork. So to lose a fight in such a way, was quite the blow to the young boy's confidence, and Iruka couldn't imagine how the boy's mother might react. Tsume never was known for her calm disposition, and there was a bit of a friendly rivalry going on between the clans, so to know that he had lost to another clan child, was just another disappointment that Kiba would have to deal with.

"Excuse me sensei." Shino said in his monotone voice bowing toward his sensei, before leaving in the same direction as Kiba. Iruka had an idea of what the boy was going to do, and could only hope for both of their sake's that no one got too hurt. Any other time he would have tried to stop the two from leaving, but he had something more important to do right now. "Alright let's have Ino Yamanaka and Hinata Hyuga come to the field." Both kunoichi in training quickly made their way to the center, forming the sign of confrontation.

It didn't take long for Shino to find Kiba, the boy was standing next to the lockers beating them with his good arm. "Kiba." The boy's head snapped up at the sound of his name, upon seeing who it was he growled a bit more. "What do you want bug boy?" Shino took a moment to push his glasses back up on his face. "I would like to finish out fight as well." Kiba was surprised at first, before snorting derisively. "What's the point you heard sensei, you already won." Shino shook his head side to side ever so slightly.

"I can not except a victory, if my opponent does not except defeat." This was probably the most Kiba had ever heard the strange boy speak, probably the most anyone in class had heard him speak as well. Kiba let his feral grin creep back onto his face. "Alright bug boy, you're on." The two weren't so dumb as to think they could get away with fighting inside the school building, so slowly they made their way to a more secluded area, they just had to make sure that they were back in time for the final portion of the exam.

Ino just couldn't find it in her to care about the fight she was currently in. 'I mean if it was for Sasuke's love than that's different.' She thought, but in truth her opponent was maybe the only girl in the academy who didn't like the dark and mysterious boy. Hinata was waiting for Ino to make the first move, without being aloud to use chakra her hits would be very weak and she knew it, so in order to win she would have to be defensive. "Whatever, I might as well take it seriously." Ino said pumping herself up, before charging the young Hyuga.

Hinata easily dodged the first strike, countering with a palm strike to the blonde Yamanaka's exposed stomach. The attack wasn't very powerful, but it was at least enough for Ino to reconsider charging in quite so recklessly. Ino's style consisted mainly of powerful kicks, proceeded by weaker punches to keep her opponent's off guard. Of course she was not going to be a front line shinobi, as such she had never tried to perfect her family's fighting style, and in return, she was still quite sloppy. Hinata took advantage of this.

Ducking a high kick, Hinata came up with a palm strike to Ino's chin. Putting as much strength as she could Ino felt herself lift off the ground, she rose up maybe three foot, just enough for her to lose her balance as she landed. Ino was careful, catching herself, and being sure to stay steady, after all hitting the ground was an automatic loss. While Ino was taking the time to regain her balance, Hinata stood waiting patiently to the side, sure she could have pressed her advantage, and more than likely ended the match right there.

However, not only was Hinata not that kind of person, point's for this exam were scored on technique, not how quickly you could beat your opponent. So technically speaking, no matter who lost, both contestants could easily pass this portion. Once Ino was ready, she charged the lavender eyed girl again, this time drawing one of her practice kunai. Sharpened ones were considered much too dangerous to use for moments like this, but if she could hit Hinata in a mortal area with the blunted blade, than that would definitely score her some points.

Ino may not have had the best grades in the class, but she was far from dumb, and if there was one thing she knew for sure, it was that the chances of her beating a Hyuga in a taijutsu battle were very slim. Hinata saw the knife coming and slapped it to the side, before attacking Ino with three direct palm strikes to her chest area. Ino swung the weapon for Hinata's exposed neck, missing by just a little over an inch as Hinata bent backwards out of reflex. Taking her back bend all the way to the ground Hinata rose both feet into the air.

Her backflip kick hit Ino squarely in the chin, this being the second attack to send her into the air. Typically Hyuga didn't use their legs, but Hinata was fighting more on instinct than using her clans actual fighting style, after all she had been told many times that she was no good at it, so what would be the point of using it exclusively. Ino once again managed to keep herself from falling to the ground. 'Fine if that's how she wants it.' Ino thought, rushing in again, no longer was she bothering with the kunai, that plan was obviously a failure.

Sending a flurry of kicks toward Hinata, all the Hyuga girl could do was dodge, when it came to Hinata's palm strikes vs Ino's kicks, the difference in range was just too great. Sweeping at the shy girl's legs, Ino cursed as she jumped over her attack. Not about to get discouraged though, she followed up with a spinning kick as she rose back to her feet. To some Ino may have looked more like a ballerina with her fluid kicks, and spinning moves, as apposed to the ninja in training that she actually was supposed to be.

Her rising kick did manage to finally hit Hinata striking her in the left cheek. Hinata knew it was her own fault, she hadn't been taking her opponent seriously and as such, she couldn't be mad at Ino as she felt her body hit the hard dirt ground. Suddenly getting kicked full force in the face in the middle of a jump was enough to put Hinata on the ground, of course she was far from actually beaten but that didn't matter in these spars. "Winner Ino Yamanaka!" Iruka called out, normally spars would have at least two rounds, but in the exam there were no second chances.

With Kiba and Shino, the two found themselves on the abandoned and normally off limits roof of the academy. It was one of the only places that they felt they wouldn't be interrupted. "Well let's go." Kiba said his feral grin still in place, showing off his sharp teeth. "Academy rules?" Shino asked, he wanted to be sure, Kiba looked down at his arm, without it he wouldn't be able to perform any jutsu any way. "Yeah no jutsu, just fists." Shino nodded his acceptance, and without further talking Kiba charged forward.

Shino had honestly been hoping Kiba would try a different approach, this one in particular hadn't helped him much the last time. Shino dodged the first swipe of Kiba's claws, and retaliated with a spinning back kick, which Kiba seemed to duck under easily. This was enough to throw Shino off balance, as when he completed his full spin, Kiba was waiting with an uppercut. Luckily the boy had punched him, because if he had swiped with his claws, he likely would have cut open Shino's neck, ending the match a bit too savagely.

Shino allowed his body to go with the force of Kiba's uppercut, backflipping away from the wild boy, to gain some distance. Even with Kiba at such a huge disadvantage, he was still dangerous, without one of his arms it was almost like he was more wild. Shino didn't have time to breath before Kiba was back on top of him, slashing repeated with his usable hand. Shino did his best to dodge the strikes, but could feel himself getting overwhelmed, Kiba was moving much to fast for him to grab his arm as he had done before.

Not only that, Kiba was much more focused, he hadn't slipped up once, the boy normally would have overextended himself at least once by now. It was all Shino could do to keep dodging, if one of the boy's attacks connected than chances were Shino would be unable to recover. Dodging another claw swipe, Shino spun around to Kiba's side, the boy's eyes widened, he was moving to fast, by the time he had realized that his opponent was no longer in front of him he had already attacked the air again. Moving his elbow into Kiba's line of sight, he smashed it directly into the dog boy's face.

Kiba felt himself falling, his nose now bleeding, using his none broken arm he vaulted backwards, refusing to allow himself to hit the ground. The two stood opposite each other again, Kiba looked at his hand, his fingernails were naturally sharp, but without his clan's ninjutsu they were a very inefficient way of fighting. Even if he managed to hit his surprisingly skilled opponent, Kiba knew it wouldn't do enough damage to secure a win. Wiping away some of the blood that was seeping from his nose, Kiba charged with a renewed energy.

Shino was already beginning to lose his focus, as much as the Aburame hated to admit it, he didn't have the ridiculous stamina that all close range shinobi seemed to have. So adjusting his glasses he charged forward to meet his opponent, the two clashed with a burst of speed. Kiba and Shino's attacks hitting simultaneously. Instead of using his claws Kiba had decided to go for a good old fashioned punch, that hit Shino squarely in the side of the head, Shino's attack likewise struck Kiba in a similar area.

Both boy's recoiled, Shino however had one thing that Kiba did not, two hands. With a grunt of exertion Shino pushed himself forward, blasting the dog boy in the head one more time, and sending him falling to the ground. Shino knew that if it hadn't been for Kiba's broken arm he would have lost, the truth is that when it came to taijutsu the dog trainer was just better. "I.. guess I lose." Kiba sounded a bit down, but raising his hand up he smacked himself in the face, it was an odd sight for Shino, but immediately afterwords Kiba seemed to be okay with his loss.

"Alright, next up is.." Iruka looked at his paper in confusion, he couldn't remember writing up that particular pair, had someone messed with his paperwork. "Choji Akimichi vs. Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke didn't seem to care in the slightest, walking into the center of the arena with his hands shoved in his pockets. Choji on the other hand, looked more than a little nervous, he had strangely never been paired up with the resident genuis, but he had seen the Uchiha fight, and knew that he wasn't going to have an easy match.

If Naruto was being honest he was upset, hell he was angry, if they were going by fighting ability than there was no doubt that he should have been the one fighting Uchiha. For whatever reason though they had paired up Choji with him, and while he wasn't going to say anything bad about the kids abilities, in Naruto's opinion he didn't stand a chance. "I wouldn't count Choju out just yet." Naruto heard the words muffled by a yawn, looking to his side he saw Shikamaru, not that he wasn't able to tell it was him just by the sound of his voice.

"You think he can win?" Naruto knew that Shiamaru was the kids best friend, but unless he had some amazing potential hidden somewhere inside of him, Naruto just couldn't see it. "Why not, anything's possible." Shikamaru said in his lazy tone with a shrug of his shoulders. "Sure Choji's not the fastest, or even the most skilled, but that's not everything." Naruto would just have to take his friends word for it, Choji was a better person to root for than Sasuke any day of the week. At that moment the two missing students, Shino and Kiba showed back up, both looking a little more beat up than before they had left.

While Naruto was distracted the fight started, Choji wasn't the kind of person to charge in, it wasn't in his nature. Sasuke was very similar in that regard, though for different reasons, for Choji it was an unwillingness to hurt anybody, but for Sasuke it was a simple cautionary step. Sasuke however proved to be the less patient of the two, charging the larger boy at full speed. Choji wasn't able to react in time to block the punch, and was forced to absorb a strong punch to his stomach area. Sasuke had made the decision that because of his large size his gut would be a weak point.

This was a miscalculation on his part, sure Choji had a bit more fat around his stomach than most active ninja. However underneath that layer of fat was a wall of solid muscle, able to easily absorb the Uchiha's strike. Choji was a bit surprised at how the boy's punch really didn't hurt that much. Naruto could see why though, and it seemed that Shikamaru had already seen it coming. "Without chakra to enhance his blows, he's not strong enough to really hurt Choji." Shikamaru sounded a bit proud as he spoke.

'Maybe so, but it's hard to gain that kind of protection everywhere.' Were Naruto's thoughts, meanwhile Sasuke was thinking something very similar, Choji had failed to capitalize on Sasuke's small mistake, something that the Uchiha was thankful for, as Choji finally decided to throw a counter, Sasuke was more than ready, grabbing the boy's large arm, and using it to vault over the top of him. Landing on Choji's shoulder's, wrapping one leg around Choji's thick neck, he rearranged his center of gravity, forcing the boy's neck backwards, and in return the rest of his body.

Choji could do little to stop it from happening, and as he hit the ground Sasuke's leg slammed into his neck hard, to the point where he felt that the Uchiha might have crushed his esophagus. Luckily that wasn't the case, and Choji was able to recover quickly, of course he had already lost the match but there wouldn't be any adverse effects. "Winner Sasuke Uchiha!" Iruka called out, running over to help Choji up, and make sure he was alright. A normal civilian would have almost certainly been killed by an attack like that, but these weren't civilian's they were ninja, and Choji would be fine.

"That was fast." Naruto muttered more to himself than anyone else, though Shikamaru still heard him. "Choji, may not have the mindset, but I know that in time he'll be stronger than any of us." Naruto wished that he had someone who could believe in him that much, it made him just a little jealous. Choji approached the two of them, his head down. "I shouldn't have choked." Naruto couldn't believe that he didn't even need to see the nurse after that, the kid was definitely tough, and Naruto found it hard to deny Shikamaru's words, in time Choji would probably be an amazing ninja.

"Next up Naruto Uzumaki vs. Shikamaru Nara." Naruto was honestly afraid of that, it seemed destiny was against him on this one. Turning to his kind of friend, Naruto could already tell by the look on his face, what he was going to do. "I forfeit." Naruto sighed, he knew it was coming, but he couldn't blame the boy, he didn't know what he had just done. 'Damn it!' He thought, without any points in the sparring session he would have to have an almost perfect score in the next portion to pass, something that Shikamaru wouldn't have any trouble doing, but Naruto barely managed to create one stable clone.

Naruto payed no attention whatsoever to the remaining matches, none of the other students interested him very much, they were truly the bottom of the barrel. At some point Kiba had wandered off to the nurse, more than likely to get his arm healed. So now he sat in his desk, truly hating what was coming, no matter what he couldn't think of anything to ensure that he passed. He had probably scored at least close to perfect in the written exam, but he was barely above par on his target practice, and that coupled with a zero in the sparring portion, was almost sure to screw him over.

Naruto was close to the final student to be called, and had to sit watching as one by one, students came out of the room, brand new headbands on. That was a bit odd, he hadn't thought that Iruka had the time to grade all of the exams. He supposed that he could have someone else helping him, that was grading the papers while Iruka chaperoned the rest of the exam. "Sasuke Uchiha." Iruka came out of the back room to call another student, Naruto cursed, if it was Sasuke's turn already than he was next on the list.

It took only a few minutes for Sasuke to walk out of the room, his head band already proudly displayed on his forehead. This was accompanied by a loud group of girls screaming out how hot they thought the boy was, the loudest of which, were Ino and Sakura. They were the leaders of the Sasuke fan club, and took their positions very seriously. "Naruto Uzumaki!" With a groan Naruto forced himself to his feet. 'I can do this.' He kept thinking this as he walked doing his best to psych himself up, hopefully this would help him in the end.

Stepping into the room and closing the door behind him, Naruto felt his blood boil at the sight in front of him. "Mizuki." Naruto spoke through grit teeth, if there was one teacher in the academy he couldn't stand, it was Mizuki. The man always tried to act like he was on Naruto's side, but the boy knew better, he could feel the hate that emanated from him, it was almost stronger than anyone else in the village's. "Naruto, how are you, it's been awhile." Mizuki spoke in his fake cheerful tone, that Naruto saw through immediately.

"I'm good." Naruto answered his tone short, he was ready to leave the room as soon as he entered. That's when a scary thought entered his mind, if Mizuki was the one who graded his exam, he was as good as done. "Okay show us the three ninjutsu you learned this year, and we'll calculate your final score." Naruto easily performed the first two, transforming into a perfect copy of Mikomi, before replacing himself with a chair that was placed in the corner of the room, just for that purpose. "Good now just show us your clone jutsu."

Naruto took a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds, as he began to focus his chakra. As it began to flow through his body, he focused on slowing the flow, cutting it smaller and smaller. He began to sweat as he struggled to hold back the unrelenting force that was his own chakra. He could tell that Iruka and Mizuki were getting impatient but he wasn't about to screw this up by acting before he was sure that the jutsu was ready. After a good five minutes of trying to decrease the flow of his own chakra, he felt he had it down to a manageable amount.

With a loud yell Naruto called out the name of his jutsu. "Clone jutsu!" In a large puff of smoke one identical Naruto appeared, no obvious defects apparent. Naruto couldn't believe it he had actually managed to perform the jutsu, turning his attention to the two instructors he couldn't keep the large grin off of his face. Both had very serious expressions on their faces, and were talking to each other, as they looked over some paperwork in front of them. At once the two turned to look at Naruto, Iruka had a rather grave look on his face.

"I'm sorry Naruto, you fail."

A/N: Finally the graduation test is complete, don't expect everything to be the same as in the series, I plan on changing quite a few things, the idea of just rehashing fights and stuff from the series honestly bores me, so I'm going to try and be as original as possible. See you all next chapter, please read and review.


	19. Secret Exam

Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 19

Secret Exam

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

"What the hell do you mean I fail!?" Naruto was enraged, all the time he had put into this, all his effort wasted, he couldn't accept something like that. "I'm sorry Naruto, even taking into account your score on the jutsu exam, it just isn't enough to make up for the other three." Other three, sure Naruto had failed the shuriken throwing portion, and had gotten a zero by default in the combat portion, but if there was one thing he was certain of, it was that he just about aced the written exam. "What do you mean other three!?"

Iruka sighed, he hated having to do this to the boy, but he also wasn't willing to let any student pass that wasn't ready. "Right here." He handed the sheet of paper that Iruka and Mizuki were looking at to the young boy, hoping that letting him see it would help him calm down. As he figured his score in the shuriken exam was mediocre at best, and of course the zero that Shikamaru had stuck him with in the combat exam, but when he saw the zero next to the written portion, he felt his blood boil even more. "I know I passed the written part!"

With another sigh Iruka went through the stack of paper. "I'm sorry Naruto, don't take it too hard everyone makes mistakes." He handed Naruto back his written test, Naruto scanned it quickly and couldn't believe his eyes. All of Naruto's answers were off by one, the answer to the first question was where Naruto could have sworn his name was, and the answer to question two was in the space for question one, it continued like this, effectively making everyone of his answers incorrect. "I didn't.. this is-" Naruto froze.

The young blonde turned his attention to Mizuki, who quickly hid his smug grin, with an obviously fake look of regret. It took every ounce of Naruto's self control to not attack the man right then and there. He wasn't sure how Mizuki had done it, but there was no doubt in Naruto's mind that he was responsible for this. It wouldn't do to attack an academy instructor though, at this point it would just look like Naruto throwing a fit for his failure in the exam. There was only one thing Naruto could do in this situation, find a way to prove what Mizuki had done.

Taking a deep calming breath, Naruto turned to Iruka and bowed out of respect. "I will do better next time sensei." With those words he turned abruptly and left the room, walking straight passed his friends including Mikomi who was finally back from the nurse, Naruto left the school. As soon as he broke through the schools front doors he began to run, he wasn't sure where at first, he just knew he needed to get away from where he was, before he did something he would regret. It was close to an hour later when Naruto stopped, atop the Hokage monument.

Naruto wasn't sure how long he was sitting there, but it was plenty of time for the sun to begin setting, he was brought out of his thoughts by a noise behind him. Turning he felt his blood boil all over again, there no more than fifty feet from him, was Mizuki a smile on his face, keeping up his innocent face. "Hey Naruto, I've been looking everywhere for you." He waved to the young boy, who forced himself to wave back at the man. It wouldn't do any good to make the man angry, especially not around here with no witnesses.

"What's up sensei?" Naruto started to stand from his perch on the fourth Hokages head, he hated calling the man that. Made it sound like he was actually trying to teach the students something, Naruto wasn't sure if the man ever really had the passion to be a teacher, but one thing was for sure, now all he wanted was to skate through life without putting in any effort. "I wanted to talk to you about something, I know that sometimes it seems like Iruka is singling you out." Naruto only payed half attention to the man's blathering.

"But truthfully he just worries, I believe that deep down it's because you remind him of himself." Naruto could almost believe that the man was being sincere, if he didn't already know better. "When he was just a child, Iruka lost both of his parents, like you he spent a majority of his life only really being able to rely on himself." Naruto reached out with his mind to try to get to the bottom of why the man was bothering him. He couldn't find much, sure Mizuki wasn't an amazingly powerful shinobi but he was still a chunin, and therefore strong enough to resist Naruto's mind reading technique.

"I didn't know that." Naruto spoke back when Mizuki paused, hoping to speed up this conversation, he still had to find a way to prove that his results were sabotaged. "Listen I spoke to Iruka, and we think you deserve another chance." This definitely caught Naruto's attention, he could tell the man was lying but not any details of it. "There is another test you can take, it involves obtaining a scroll and bringing it to a certain area outside of town without being caught." It sounded interesting anyway, of course Naruto had some pretty serious doubts about the validity.

'How dumb does he think I am?' Naruto thought to himself, but decided to play along anyway, maybe he could find something to expose Mizuki faster than he thought. "Alright, whatever you need me to do, I'll do it." Naruto said, the smile on Mizuki's face spreading as he did so. "Good, you won't regret this, Iruka will be proud to know how hard you're willing to work to realize your dreams." After that Mizuki went through the plan, telling Naruto exactly what he needed to do in order to pass the test, and where to meet him afterwords.

Naruto snuck silently through the mostly deserted building, the occasional guard would walk by, but it was glaringly obvious how the recent years of peace had started to make people lax. It didn't take him long to find the prize he was looking for. "Holy crap, it's a lot bigger than I thought." Naruto said lifting up the large piece of rolled parchment, checking it's heft. It would probably be too tiring to carry the thing in his arms the whole way, so searching around he managed to find an old cloth in one of the Hokages drawers.

Wrapping it around the large scroll, he carefully secured it to his back. "That should help." He whispered to himself, something he regretted almost immediately as he heard a sound from just outside the door. Quickly hiding himself he held his breath as the lights were flipped on, he could feel the sweat dripping down his brow, his heart rate increasing by the second. He could smell the stench of tobacco burning, making it obvious who the person was. Naruto couldn't afford to be caught yet, he had to make sure that he could expose Mizuki first.

It was cramped in the small closet that he had hid himself in, and he couldn't see anything whatsoever. He felt like he was trapped in there for almost an hour waiting for the old man to leave, suddenly he heard the door to the office open again, signaling the departure of the Hokage. "Whatever it is that you're doing, I trust you Naruto." Those were the words that the Hokage muttered under his breath as he left the room. "Way to make me feel like crap." Naruto muttered letting himself out of his cramped hiding place.

Sneaking back out of the Hokage's office, Naruto stealthily made his way through the village. Not that he needed to no one had anyway of knowing what he had done yet. It was fairly deep into the woods surrounding Konoha that Mizuki had instructed Naruto to meet him. Mizuki had been fairly strict when it came to telling Naruto that he was not to open the scroll no matter the reason. Naruto figured that Mizuki's reasoning for this was that whatever it was he had him steal had very powerful technique's inside.

"What the hell." Naruto said with a shrug, it would more than likely be a while before Mizuki appeared, so taking the scroll from his back he began to unroll it. Naruto read the first technique written down. "Shadow Clone Jutsu." It seemed odd that it was the first jutsu in the scroll, and made Naruto wonder how they organized the thing. "Whatever, might as well start with whatever's first." It worked out better than Naruto thought, he didn't bother to read the full description for the technique, but the fact that it only required one seal was definitely a plus.

Naruto wasn't bad at hand seals, but they weren't his favorite thing in the world. Naruto spent almost two hours in the middle of the woods, awaiting the arrival of Mizuki, as well as one other person. Almost as though it were planned that way, the second Naruto began to think this a noise from behind him put him on guard. Only Naruto's own quick reflexes saved him from being impaled by a large fuma shuriken, once he saw that his attack had missed a figure jumped down from the treeline. "I said that you weren't to open the scroll."

Mizuki stood, clad in full battle gear spinning a second fuma shuriken in his hand, it was hard for Naruto to know how powerful Mizuki was, but the fact that he was a chunin was more than enough for Naruto to take this seriously. "What are you doing Mizuki?" Naruto said adding a bit of fear to his voice making it tremble. This seemed to make Mizuki happy, apparently the thought of the nine tailed fox's vessel fearing him made him feel special. 'Where the hell is he?' Naruto thought, he wasn't sure how long he could hold Mizuki.

"It was worth taking the time to screw with your exam, just to see that look on your face." Mizuki chuckled, it was just as Naruto thought. "So you messed with my written test?" Naruto wanted to keep the man talking, something that Mizuki seemed all too happy to do. "There was more to it than that, I had to alter a few things to make sure you fought someone who would forfeit as well." It took every bit of Naruto's willpower not to just rush the man. Naruto couldn't afford to do that, he didn't have enough information of Mizuki's skills to attempt to fight him one on one.

"I take it that this isn't really another graduation test?" Mizuki chuckled again, the sound a bit more crazed now. "Of course not you little piece of shit, what better way to get rid of you, than to lure you into the middle of the woods." That made sense, but there was one thing that still bothered Naruto. "What's the purpose of the scroll then?" Mizuki seemed to be content standing in one spot spinning his overly large shuriken, something Naruto was grateful for. "I happen to know someone who would be happy to pay a large amount of money for it."

Naruto grit his teeth, was that all, he would betray the village for something as petty as money. "Your the worst kind of person!" Naruto yelled, finally fed up with Mizuki's presence he charged him, momentarily catching the man off guard as he hadn't expected the boy to do something so reckless. Mizuki barely dodged the right hook that Naruto sent at him to begin with, but was unprepared for the follow up roundhouse that struck him in the temple, sending him flying through the air for a short amount of time.

Mizuki recovered quickly, he barely seemed to be injured in the slightest, a smirk appeared on his face even though he had just been hit. "Is that the best the great demon boy can do, I won't lie I expected a bit more." Mizuki's eyes turned crazed as he chucked the large shuriken that he still had in his hand towards the young boy, forcing him to dodge. Mizuki ran forwards planting his fist into Naruto's gut before he had the chance to act. Naruto almost lost his lunch as the man's fist sunk deep into his gut, causing him to lose his breath for a quick second.

Mizuki wasn't about to let up, continuously striking Naruto over and over again. It felt like the man had struck every inch of his body, Naruto could only take solace in the fact that Mizuki seemed to be lax in his training, and as such his attacks didn't hurt as much as Naruto had feared. Even so it took every bit of Naruto's willpower to break free, wrenching his head forward, Mizuki's final blow struck him in the forehead, the impact was accompanied with the sound of a sickening crack that Naruto knew hadn't come from his body.

Mizuki cried out in pain, as he looked at his hand in confusion, the force at which he had struck Naruto's hard head, was apparently enough to break quite a few bones in his appendage. Naruto took this moment to reach into his pouch, pulling one of his blunted kunai out, he slashed Mizuki across the face, the force enough to open a large gash, that began bleeding freely. Jumping backwards Naruto put around twenty five feet of distance between him and his opponent, before dropping into a combat stance.

There was no doubt that Mizuki was much more experienced than Naruto himself was, but that didn't mean he would win, after all ninja battles had a lot more aspects to them than who was stronger and who was older. "You'll regret that demon!" Mizuki yelled out as he began to go through furious hand seals, Naruto had never had to deal with a real jutsu before. "Earth Style: Crushing Spears!" As he finished he slammed both hands on the ground, triggering a tremor to begin shaking the ground. Naruto wasn't dumb enough to stay in one spot and wait to be attacked, so he quickly retreated to the treetops, where he assumed that an earth style jutsu would have a harder time hitting him.

This was proven to be a bit inaccurate as large spikes of earth began to jut out of the ground before shooting off toward Naruto like over-sized extremely deadly arrows. Naruto hastily leapt from his perch, jumping from branch to branch as the earth spikes tore the trees in the immediate vicinity to pieces, almost as though they were made of nothing more than paper. "Are you aware of why the villagers hate you?" Naruto jumped back again, trying to keep distance between himself and Mizuki who was fast enough to keep appearing beside him.

"I'll tell you if you're interested, do you remember earlier when I said the you remind Iruka of himself." Mizuki was having way too much fun right now, and Naruto could only wonder where his backup was. 'I knew I should have told the old man.' He thought ducking behind a tree to dodge a salvo of shuriken. "The truth is that what you remind Iruka of, is the creature that killed his parents!" Naruto let out a grunt, pulling out a shuriken from his left shoulder, he hadn't been quite fast enough to dodge all of the projectiles.

'This is bad.' Naruto thought to himself, he might be able to take Mizuki down, if he had caught him by surprise. Unfortunately now the man was on guard, making it much harder to accomplish such a thing. Naruto ducked and rolled forwards, as Mizuki rose out of the ground behind him, fighting against actual ninjutsu was harder than Naruto thought it would be. 'If only I could read his thoughts.' The man had stronger chakra than Naruto meaning that it would be almost impossible to fight and try to read the man's mind at the same time.

Mizuki had now drawn his own kunai, which he showed no hesitation in swinging towards Naruto's neck, the young boy dodging by a very slim margin, getting a rip in his shirt in the process. "You're good at running." Mizuki commented pressing Naruto more, slashing again and again, more like he was playing with the boy than truly trying to kill him. Naruto might have normally been angry at such a blatant insult, but right now he would take what he could get, if the man wanted to underestimate him and give him the time he needed than so be it.

Dodging another slash, Naruto quickly shifted his body so that he was inside Mizuki's guard, grabbing the man's collar. With a mighty yell Naruto used as much strength as he could to lift the man over him, slamming his back onto the ground. Mizuki let out a grunt, as he tried to regain his breath, rolling to the side to evade Naruto's second strike which would have been a stomp to Mizuki's face, that no doubt would have hit Mizuki directly in the nose. Hastily rising to his feet, Mizuki deflected Naruto's follow up punch, before hitting him in the chest with both hands, knocking him backwards.

Naruto took a moment to catch his breath, something that Mizuki allowed him to do. "Are you done yet, just lay down and die, the world would be better off anyway." Without replying Naruto placed both of his hands into a seal, one he had just learned recently. "Did you really think that I wouldn't learn something while I was out here." Charging up his chakra, Naruto called out the name of his attack. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He had just learned it, and it was far from mastered, but Naruto felt that he was able to use it in battle.

"Solid clones." Mizuki did in fact sound surprised, but not worried. "Maybe if you had done this earlier, you could have caught me off guard." Naruto had decided to save chakra, so instead of summoning as many clones as he could, he kept the amount at five. His five clones charged Mizuki at once, quickly out pacing the academy instuctor. Naruto not one to stand on the sidelines charged in as well, getting in a good right hook of his own. One major problem became apparent, Naruto's clones while only being able to survive one hit, were also much weaker than the original.

'Maybe because I only used a little chakra.' He thought as Mizuki pulled out a second kunai, and became hacking through his clones like a mad man. "You're just a weakling, not even good enough to be a genin!" He called charging for Naruto, fully intending to finish the fight right there and then. Naruto tried to move, but found that for some reason his legs refused to move, all he could do is close his eyes and wait. However the pain never came, the sensation of cold metal piercing his flesh strangely absent.

"I guess I was a little late, sorry about that Naruto." Naruto's eyes shot open, the man wasn't facing him, but he would still recognize him anywhere. "I told you to be here at eleven." Naruto said almost in a chastising way. "I should've guessed the demon wouldn't have kept his mouth shut." Mizuki sneered pushing his blades against his opponents. "I'm disappointed in you Mizuki, I thought you cared about this village." Mizuki's face contorted into rage even further, trying to use even more strength to push back his opponent.

"This village can go to hell!" Mizuki screamed, at the same time Iruka shifted so Mizuki's kunai slide off of his own, causing the man to stumble forwards. Iruka taking this chance, slid one of his weapons into Mizuki's back. The blade wasn't very long, and as such the wound not fatal, but it would definitely slow the other man down. "Bastard!" Mizuki turned swiping at Iruka with his kunai, Iruka easily dodging the strike by taking a step backwards out of the way. "You can't win Mizuki, unlike you I never stopped training."

Mizuki jumped upwards into a nearby trees branches, trying to find some cover. Iruka took a step backwards evading a large spike of dirt and rock that shot out from under his feet. "As predictable as always Mizuki." Iruka called out throwing a volley of shuriken towards the treeline, the sound of someone jumping away made it obvious that he was close to hitting the mark. Naruto could only look on in amazement at his sensei, he had heard that ninja became academy instructors when they were too weak for normal duty, but now Naruto was thinking otherwise.

Iruka jumped out of the way of a return volley, and made to launch himself in the direction of the projectiles. Before he could do so though, a hand reached out from the dirt underneath Iruka's feet wrapping around his ankle. Iruka didn't look entirely surprised by this, and decided to follow through with his jump, as such a rather bewildered Mizuki was pulled from the ground. In his surprised state Mizuki released Iruka's ankle falling to the ground hard from almost three stories up. Naruto winced as the man landed wrong, and possibly broke his arm.

Naruto didn't particularly care if he did or not, but it still look like it hurt. "Naruto take the scroll and leave." Iruka said as he landed next to his student, Naruto looked up making eye contact with his sensei. "No way, I'm not leaving you here to fight him by yourself." Iruka's gaze turned hard, and Naruto couldn't remember a time when he saw such intense rage in the man's eyes. "Leave, tell Lord Hokage what Mizuki has done." The harsh tone left no room for Naruto to argue, and with a large amount of hesitation Naruto grabbed the scroll and fastened it to his back again.

"You let the boy get away." Mizuki sneered, cautiously approaching Iruka again. "Oh well no loss, I'll just hunt him down once I'm done with you." Iruka got into his combat stance, waiting for Mizuki to make the first move. "You talk like you can beat me, you know as well as I do that I'm much stronger than you." Mizuki laughed in a very off putting way, before charging at him. "That may be true, but there's one thing that you won't due that I've no problem with!" He swiped with his kunai, though Iruka noticed that his second, was no longer in his hand.

Hearing a sizzling at his feet, Iruka was temporarily distracted, looking down, he noticed a kunai at his feet, a worrisome piece of parchment wrapped around it's handle. "Shit!" Iruka didn't have time to move away, what with Mizuki still slashing away at him. 'He's trying to kill us both.' Parrying Mizuki's strike Iruka kicked him in the chest, sending him flying backwards, just before the explosion went off. Mizuki's eyes went wide. "You saved me." He said quietly to himself, slipping his kunai back into the pouch on his leg.

"You stupid bastard!" Mizuki's voice was obviously full of glee. "What kind of person gives their life for someone who's trying to kill them." The mad man burst into laughter, unable to keep it down any longer. "Goodbye Iruka, you finally got what was coming to you." A force struck him in the side of the face very powerfully, sending him flying back. Rolling to a stop Mizuki came face to face with a very angry Naruto, a vicious look on his face, his lips pulled back into a snarl, and a deep red hue taking over his normally blue eyes.

"I'll kill you!"

End.


	20. Snapped

Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 20

Snapped

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

Mizuki swallowed nervously, taking a tentative step backwards. He moved slowly as though it would stop the creature in front of him from charging. 'There's no way this is the same kid as before.' He thought as he watched Naruto flex his fingers, the nails on which had grown exponentially and looked quite sharp compared to before. "Die." It was not a shout, nor was it a threat, Naruto's gruff off sounding voice was more ordering Mizuki. "I won't let you!" Mizuki struck himself in the leg with his kunai, and immediately felt the heavy oppressive air lift a bit.

'So much killing intent.' He couldn't run, he could figure that much out, whoever was in front of him right now, it was no longer the rookie ninja he had fought just a little while ago. Mizuki instinctively ducked as Naruto vanished from his sight, this proved to be the right move, as Naruto's claws would have sliced right through his neck had he not. "I didn't want to have to use this yet." Mizuki muttered aloud as he jumped away from Naruto. Pulling out a small piece of cloth Mizuki tied it around his right forearm.

Immediately his muscles began to bulge and distort. Screaming in pain, Mizuki fell to his knees, clutching and scratching at his eyes in the process. "It... hurts.." Naruto could barely register what was happening through his anger, but what was happening in front of him was definitely new to him. Mizuki's skin crawled as though something living beneath it was trying it's best break free, ripping and tearing off pieces of the man's flesh in the process. This lasted almost five minutes, and was easily one of the slowest most agonizing times of Mizuki's life.

"I feel it." He clenched his hand, his voice was now noticeably much deeper, that coupled with his body, which looked to have grown to around three times its normal size was quite the sight. Places all over his body were bleeding continuously as his skin could not stretch to cover his increased mass, causing a pool of the red substance to form below him. He didn't seem to mind this, almost as though he could no longer feel the pain from it, the grin on his face grew by the second, as he reveled in his new form.

"Now then demon, lets see how strong you are!" Mizuki rushed forward, with a speed that seemed much greater than a body his size should possess. Naruto's demon enhanced reflexes, proved plenty capable of keeping up though. Ducking under his large arm, Naruto slashed with his claws, tearing a large chunk out of the man's side, exposing some of his ribcage. Mizuki only laughed, further reinforcing Naruto's theory that he could no longer feel pain. Bringing his other fist down Mizuki tried to crush Naruto's skull.

Quick stepping backwards, Naruto dodged the large fist by a fraction of an inch, causing Mizuki to strike the ground, shaking the nearby trees, and causing the ground to sink in around them. Naruto only growled before lashing out again, this time aiming for the man's neck, his attack landed causing a fountain of blood to spray forth from the wound. Mizuki raised one large hand to grasp at his torn throat. A second later as he released his grasp Naruto was surprised to see that the wound had closed entirely.

"Are you scared demon?" Mizuki taunted flexing his arm muscles as he did so. "This is a strip of fabric from a special ninja tool, reportedly made by the same blacksmith who created the weapons of the seven shinobi swordsman." Naruto wasn't in the mood to hear Mizuki's ramblings, and as such rushed in attacking again, slashing open Mizuki's chest and allowing blood to begin flowing from it. Mizuki didn't react at all allowing Naruto to attack him, only for the wounds to close themselves after only a few seconds.

"It was created for the very purpose of fighting demon's such as yourself." Mizuki grabbed Naruto's outstretched hand before spinning and throwing him into one of the large trees that surrounded them from all sides. The force at which he struck the large object caused it to split and fracture apart, before falling over completely. Naruto stood back up shakily, he could feel the demonic chakra healing his wounds just as quickly as Mizuki's. He knew he had to find a way to stop him, but with his rage hazed mind he couldn't think of anything.

Forming a seal, Naruto summoned five clones, all of which had the same dangerous aura around them as the original. Naruto hadn't expected that, but he wouldn't complain, all six Naruto's rushed forward at once, attacking Mizuki from all sides. With one swipe Mizuki took out two of the clones, but the other three had no trouble getting into position around him. Naruto stood in front of Mizuki with his clones, at his right, left, and backside. All at once the Naruto's pounced using their enhanced claws to tear at his flesh.

Mizuki was getting annoyed again, as was evident by his increased breathing. "Naruto!" The boy barely payed the voice in the back of his head any heed, but he could still hear him. "Something that powerful, no doubt has a large payment that must be given in return." Naruto growled, but responded anyway. 'What kind of payment?' The fox grinned, watching Mizuki through Naruto's eyes. "He won't last much longer, just keep on doing what you are." Naruto couldn't help but think how pointless it was for the fox to interrupt him just for that, but didn't say it aloud.

Naruto dodged under another of Mizuki's fast and powerful punches, slicing his leg open in the moments following. One of his clones jumped on to Mizuki's back only for him to jump high into the air, before falling back down landing on his back and crushing the clone. Quickly rising back to his feet, Mizuki grabbed another clone by his head, before ripping said appendage from his body. Naruto couldn't help but shudder at the scene. With only one clone left Naruto ran forward to stand beside it, before whispering into it's ear.

With a stoic nod, Naruto charged at Mizuki again, The large man immediately trying to grab the boy, but Naruto's top speed was much faster than that of his clones, making it close to impossible for the behemoth to catch him. While Naruto had him distracted the clone Snuck up behind him, grabbing onto his back similarly to the way the other had. The difference being this clone had two objects in his hands, Kunai with special parchment wrapped around the handle. Without further warning the clone jammed all of the knives into the monsters body, six in all.

Naruto placed his hands into the tiger seal, forcing energy into the seals. Causing the seals to explode much quicker than they normally would have. As the fox's energy began to wear off Naruto was able to think clearer, and able to come up with actual plans, that didn't involve attacking till the enemy dies. Mizuki fell backwards, the smoke rising into the air, Naruto silently hoped that someone would see it and come help, after all maybe Iruka was still alive. As the smoke cleared Naruto got to see the results of his strategy.

One of Mizuki's arms was completely gone, along with half of his face, his skull almost fully visible. "Stay dead." Naruto muttered running over to where Iruka was, before he could make it, a hand grasped him by the neck from behind, lifting him into the air. Naruto forced his head to the side, to see Mizuki's face, the man was somehow still alive his flesh and bone knitting itself back togerther, before Naruto's eyes. "Funny I was going to say the same thing to you." Mizuki said slamming Naruto into the dirt ground head first.

Naruto's vision went blurry, and for a minute he thought he might lose consciousness. "From what I've heard this tiny piece of cloth has been created from the fur of a tailed beast, allowing anyone who owns it to gain it's increased healing and strength." Mizuki was the kind of person who couldn't help but brag, something Naruto's was thankful for, because it meant that he had time to try something else. 'Fox I need more chakra." It was the only thing he could really due to get out of this, if Mizuki was going to use tailed beast chakra, then he would just have to use more than him.

"Of course, but know that I can't be sure what might happen, you're body is still quite under developed." The fox warned, but didn't give Naruto a chance to go back on his request, forceing as much chakra as the young boy could handle through his chakra coils. "What the hell are you doing!?" Mizuki could immediately feel that something was wrong, and acted quickly, lifting the boy up into the air again. Grabbing his head with his other arm, Mizuki twisted quickly and powerfully, and with a loud crack Naruto's body went limp.

"That was too close." Mizuki said throwing the boys body to the side, before he began to cough incessantly. Wiping a small amount of blood from his lips, Mizuki reached up and grabbed the cloth on his shoulder. "Guess I used it too long." He said quickly untying it and shoving it into his tool pouch that was mysteriously still in perfect condition. His body began to shrink and regain it's normal shape, his bones breaking and resetting themselves back into their original position. Mizuki screamed throughout the process.

Letting out a deep breath Mizuki could barely move. "This things useful but it could kill me." He said thinking of the cloth. "Now then lets make sure your actually dead Iruka." He said trudging over to the body of his former colleague. "As I thought, you don't die easy do you Iruka?" Iruka couldn't move, and he was sure his jaw was broken, judging by the pain he was feeling, as it prevented him from speaking. "What's wrong, the demon's dead, you should be happy, I did what you never could... avenged your parents."

Mizuki loved the look of anger in Iruka's eyes, coupled with the defiant aura of a man who thought he still had a chance. It there was one thing he would enjoy it was to extinguish that look, to watch as the man realized how powerless he really was, the man who had always shown him up in everything they did, his first friend, and his first rival. "You know it's strange.. I think I might actually miss you." He said brandishing the kunai, and readying it to strike. Swinging it downwards, Mizuki looked on in confusion as his hand never reached Iruka.

Instead the appendage hit the ground limply completely severed from his wrist. He yelled out in pain grasping at the stump that was once his hand. Turning quickly Mizuki caught sight of the culprit. "Your dead, I snapped your neck!" He couldn't believe his eyes, Naruto stood just a few feet from him, alive and well, thought there were a few changes to his appearance. Naruto stared at the man, who dared to hurt his sensei, his normally blue eyes no longer red, but also not the original blue, instead they were overtaken by a pitch black look.

Mizuki felt as though the boy was staring directly through his soul. To say the least Mizuki was sufficiently freaked out, reaching into his pouch with his remaining hand, he made to grab the piece of cloth again, though before he could do anything with it, the piece of fabric was snatched from him. "I didn't even see him move." Mizuki thought looking over to Naruto who now had the red fabric in hand, the boy wasted no time in destroying the thing. "You have done many things in your life, for which to be judged."

Naruto's voice was distorted though not in the same way as before, instead of the gruff demonic voice he had before, Naruto's voice was more calm and full of purpose, like someone who had lived for far too long and seen too many things to truly care about the world from a humans perspective. "I can see it now, everything you've ever done, from the time you were a child." It was like watching a movie, all of Mizuki's memories flashed before Naruto's eyes. Mizuki's eyes widened as blood began to seep from Naruto's finger tips.

Spiraling around his small body like a whirlpool, Naruto didn't seem in the least bit surprised by this turn of events. "You will die for the sins you have committed." The blood all converged into the palm of Naruto's hand, before lengthening and morphing. Taking on the form of a scythe connected to Naruto's hand, similar to that of a praying mantis. "You don't know anything about me demon, I won't die so easily!" With those words Mizuki rushed the young boy, with only one hand he could no longer use jutsu, but to deal with a child he didn't believe he would need to.

Feinting a punch Mizuki pulled back, before spinning and launching a kick. Naruto leaned his head back just out of reach of the attack. Mizuki smiled as Naruto heard a clicking noise, and suddenly a kunai shot from Mizuki's outstretched leg. The smile dropped as the blood moved and grabbed the kunai less than an inch from Naruto's face. "I can read you're every thought Mizuki." Naruto swept forward with his blood covered hand, giving Mizuki no more time to attack. "Yo-you-" Mizuki never got to finish as the top half of his body was severed from the bottom.

Naruto blinked a few times, his eyes returning to normal. "What... just happened?" He said looking around the forest, his eyes falling first on the dead body of Mizuki which was in multiple pieces directly under his feet. The smell alone was enough to make Naruto feel like he was about to lose his lunch, but the blood covering his own body sealed it. Retching he lost anything in his stomach that might have helped him recover his strength, Naruto had never thought himself as being weak but this was definitely not something he enjoyed seeing, even if Mizuki was the victim.

"Did.. I do this?" He asked aloud staring at his hands, he wanted nothing more than to wash the filth from his body, but before he had a chance to truly worry about that, he caught sight of the second body in the clearing. "Iruka!" He ran over to his fallen sensei, and was relieved to see that he was still breathing, Iruka looked over to him, his body would still not move, but he could at least see. "Are you alright?" Naruto was panicked, he could tell his sensei was alive, but not how seriously he was injured, the burns all over his body were definitely not a good sign.

Iruka couldn't respond to his student, something Naruto realized fairly quickly. "I got to get you to the hospital." Naruto said out loud, bending over and grabbing his sensei's arm, being careful to not touch any of the burned flesh. Lifting him up, Naruto put Iruka's arm over his shoulder, it didn't take a genuis to figure out the main problem with this. Naruto was quite a bit shorter than Iruka causing the man's limp legs to drag along the ground as Naruto did his best to carry his Sensei out of the woods. "Why can't I remember anything?"

The last memory Naruto had was Iruka showing up and telling him to run, which he started to do, but then everything went blank. "Wait..." Naruto used his free hand to check his back. "Where's the scroll?" Naruto took a quick glance around the clearing but saw no sign of the large rolled parchment. "There's more important things to think about right now." Naruto said making the decision to worry about the scroll later. "Yes, like explaining exactly what happened here." Naruto froze at the sound of someone speaking behind him.

"Old man... Hi." Naruto said waving towards the Hokage, who had appeared rather mysteriously without a sound. Naruto had never seen the normally kind and jovial man with such a stern look on his face, and Naruto was bit surprised that no Anbu accompanied him, they would typically follow him everywhere. "Hello Naruto." The old man took a hit off of the pipe in his mouth, and Naruto took a moment to notice that he wasn't wearing his robes, instead he was dressed head to toe, in skintight battle armor.

He was prepared for a battle, and Naruto found himself hoping that he wasn't the target. The Hokage turned a sad look to Mizuki's body. "Such a shame, why must children misbehave." He shook his head, before turning his attention back to Naruto. "I think I have an idea, but why don't you tell me what happened?" Naruto was fully willing to do so, but not before he was sure Iruka was okay, the Hokage saw the look on Naruto's face, and almost like he could tell what he was thinking, clapped his hands, causing an Anbu with a bear mask to drop down from the treeline.

"Bear, please take Iruka to the hospital, and stay with him, come tell me if there is any change in his condition. " The Hokage instructed, to which Bear gave a quick bow and a shout of "Yes Lord Hokage." Before gently taking the man from Naruto and speeding off in what Naruto assumed to be the direction of the village. "Good now then, Naruto can you tell me where the forbidden scroll is?" His voice was calm, and Naruto got the distinct feeling that he was upset. "Uh.. I can't really... remember." The Hokage pinched the bridge of his nose, and made a dissatisfied sound.

"Well then we'd better start looking." Naruto looked at the Hokage, he had figured that he would have said more than that, not that he was going to complain about it. It took close to twenty minutes for Naruto to locate the scroll, he had apparently hidden it inside a hollowed out tree. Bringing it back over to the old man, Naruto kept his gaze to the ground as he presented it to him. When he didn't take it, Naruto rose his eyes to look at the Hokage who seemed to be debating something internally, having made decision he cleared his throat.

"You borrowed it I believe it is your responsibility to bring it back." Naruto blinked for a second, after he stole it the Hokage was still going to trust him to carry it back to the office. Naruto felt even more like an ass now, and honestly couldn't think of why he hadn't told the old man what was going on before this. "Don't worry so much, I knew from the beginning." Naruto's gaze shot to the old man again, and he seriously began to wonder if he wasn't the only one who could read people's minds. "Iruka came to me earlier today." The Hokage explained.

He guessed he should've figured that, Iruka was a loyal ninja of Konoha first and foremost, so it made sense that he would have went and told the Hokage about his plan to steal the forbidden scroll to get Mizuki to admit to tampering with the tests. Of course Naruto hadn't expected everything to play out like it did, and while he was well aware of how Mizuki felt about him, Naruto didn't think he was the kind of person to hurt others who were completely innocent. It was just prove that you never really know how someone really is, until they have the promise of money or power dangling in front of their face.

It was a slow and awkward walk to the Hokage's office, one that Naruto hoped he would never have to experience again. The man had treated him like his own grandson for as long as Naruto could remember, making the thought of the man being disappointed in him even more excruciating. Naruto couldn't help but notice that the building was very quiet, almost like no one else was there, but Naruto was sure once the information that the demon child had stolen a scroll full of the villages most powerful techniques that a lynch mob would have already formed.

Sarutobi must have caught the look on Naruto's face, because he started to speak again. "I figured we could just keep this little incident between us, no reason to get the council involved or anything." The Hokage smiled, that twinkle in his eye, the one that always made Naruto feel like everything would be okay, no matter what happened. He was speechless, after he had pretty much betrayed the village, and no doubt put it in grave danger the old man was willing to just sweep it under the rug and pretend like nothing happened.

If it were five years ago Naruto probably would have started bawling right then and there. Now however Naruto was a man, well kind of anyway, and men didn't cry. So with a low bow, Naruto mustered up as much nerve as he could. "Thank you Lord Hokage, I will never do anything like this again." The old man chuckled lightly at Naruto's formal gesture. "I'm sure you won't after all the punishment for ninja is much more.." He paused as though trying to think of the right word to use. "Lethal than it is for civilians."

Naruto froze, did that mean what he thought it did. "Congratulations Naruto, you are officially a ninja of Konoha from this moment forwards, you can pick up your headband in class tomorrow morning." Naruto quickly turned away from the old man, suspiciously rubbing the area around his eyes, his sleeve coming back wet. "I thought I failed." Sure he had done this to prove that Mizuki had cheated him, but he never truly thought that he would pass because of it, he just wanted to expose the man, so he couldn't try the same thing in six months, which would have been when Naruto was allowed to try again.

"Well after reviewing some of the details, I along with some help from your sensei decided that you are indeed ready to take on the reponsibility that being a shinobi of Konoha entails." The Hokage paused so he could take a drag from his pipe. "Now then since that's done you should probably get home, you'll have a big day tomorrow, finding out who you're teammates are." With a nod Naruto began to leave the room, not looking back at the old man, still hiding his eyes from him. "Oh and Naruto."

The boy stopped in his steps, still not turning around. "Can I have the scroll back before you leave, not that I don't trust you, but it is against policy to lend it out at all, especially to genin." Naruto felt his cheeks warm up slightly, as he undid the knots that held the large rolled paper to his back, before slowly laying it down on the floor. "And one more thing before you leave Naruto." Naruto took a deep breath, listening to the old man. "I think that you will make an excellent Hokage someday, as long as you don't make it a habit of stealing things, that is."

Naruto found it especially hard to sleep that night, everything that had happened, continuously running through his mind. From Iruka's condition to his passing to not being able to remember half of the night. One thing that was weighing heavily on him was the thought that he was the one who had killed Mizuki, not that the man didn't get what was coming to him, but the fact that Naruto couldn't even remember doing it, that was what truly scared him. This was only intensified with the fact that the fox wouldn't respond to him no matter how much he tried calling to it.

End.

A/N: Teams will be next chapter, I don't have much more to say than that, please read and review.


	21. Teams

Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 21

Teams

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

Naruto eventually gave up on sleep, and settled for simply laying in bed with his eyes closed, it was worrying him how the fox had yet to answer his calls. Never before had the demon been quiet for this long, and he couldn't tell if something was wrong, or if the creature was enacting some kind of plan, to annoy him. As light began to shine through his bedroom window, Naruto reluctantly slid out of his bed, feeling just as exhausted as when he had layed down the previous night, noticing with some amount of digust the pure amount of dirt covering his body, Naruto began to wish that he had taken a shower the night before.

He had stripped the bloodsoaked clothes from his body before crawling under his blankets, even so he realized that he would have to wash his bedding later. Looking at the clock on his bedside table, Naruto took note of the time. "I should have enough time for a quick shower." He mumbled aloud, something he did a lot. Going through and finding some wearable clothes, Naruto picked up a black shirt with the Konoha symbol on the front, and a pair of tan cargo shorts. "Do these still fit?" Shrugging his shoulders he decided to give it a shot, it was all he could find anyway.

The water ran red as he washed out his blonde hair, amazing the boy to see just how much of the red substance he had gotten on him. He took more time than he originally planned on just to ensure that he was actually clean before going to class. The last thing he wanted was to walk around all day covered in sweat and filth, besides the blood and such would have raised far to many questions from his fellow graduates, questions he wasn't sure he was even allowed to answer in the first place. Fitting the shirt on over his chest, it was a bit tight, but not so much that it was unwearable.

The shorts fit better at least, and after grabbing his equipment he left his apartment, slamming the door on the way, to make sure it stayed shut. He wasn't surprised to see a certain blonde haired girl waiting outside the gates for him, nor the other dark haired girl that was half hidden behind her. "You ran away yesterday." It wasn't a question it was a fact, and Naruto could tell by the look on her face she was worried. "N-naruto.. what happened?" Hinata noticed some of the small cuts and bruises that covered the boy.

"That's weird.." Naruto whispered looking confused at the wounds, normally things such as this would have healed long ago, but it was almost like he wasn't healing any faster than a normal human now. Mikomi's eyes narrowed as Naruto didn't answer Hinata's question, making the girl believe that something was indeed wrong. "It's nothing really, let's get inside." Naruto waved off the girls concern, before walking past them towards the door. Neither of them seemed thrilled with this response, but didn't push the subject further.

Once Naruto had taken his seat, both girls sat beside him, with Hinata to his right, and Mikomi to his left. He could feel the worry emanating off of Hinata, and it bothered him, the last thing he wanted was for other people to worry about him. As usual he couldn't feel anything from Mikomi, he had never discovered the reason she was immune to his mind reading skills, having more or less just let it go. He could feel people looking at him throughout class, and began to wonder how bad he actually looked, this morning he hadn't thought to take in how messed up he really was in the mirror.

Sighing Naruto put his head down on the desk, choosing to ignore them rather than to confront them. He stayed that way until Iruka arrived, only to remember that Iruka was still in the hospital, and as such they would probably have a substitute. "Hey Naruto, where's your headband?" Naruto picked his head up off the desk to aknowledge the familiar voice of Shikamaru. With a bit of confusion Naruto looked around the room, and saw that indeed everyone else in the room was wearing their shinobi headband, a symbol of their graduation.

"I'm getting it later." Was the only answer he could give, it was what the Hokage had told him after all, that he would get his headband today in class. Everyone's heads turned to the door as they slide open, and almost instantaneously the majority of the student's began to gossip about the sight in front of them. Naruto couldn't believe his eyes at first, and had to pinch himself to assure that what he was seeing was indeed real. "Iruka-sensei what happened!?" Sakura asked standing to her feet, an obvious look of concern on her face.

"It's nothing calm down class." Iruka said using his arms to move the wheelchair that he was currently seated in to the front of his desk. Both of the man's legs were in casts, as well as one of his arms, luckily it seemed that medic ninja were able to heal his jaw up just fine though. So that he could at least speak to his students on the day of their graduation. "Before I assign you to your teams I want to say a few things." Iruka said taking the headband off of his forehead and placing it on the desk in front of him.

"I want you all to know, that no matter what happens in life that you are all great ninja, with the talent to take you to the top." He sighed rubbing at the area underneath his eye, close to the scar that ran across his nose. "And that any time you need someone to confide in I'll be there to help, no matter the cost." Iruka was getting emotional, something that Naruto couldn't help but find odd, and he began to wonder what exactly was going on. "I realized something important last night." Iruka took a deep breath.

"That teaching is probably the most important thing I have ever done in my life... and that there is nothing more I would love to do the rest of it." Placing a hand over top of the headband that he set on the table he continued. "However it became rather painfully obvious just how much I have let my skills degrade over the last few years... so it is with much though and consideration that I've decided to take a break from teaching." The whole class was silent at this revelation, but none were more shocked than Naruto.

Slamming his hands down on the desk, Naruto rose to his feet. An intense kind of anger had overtaken his visage. "That's bullshit, why the hell are you quitting!?" Iruka sighed, and the look on his face was all it took to know that he had expected this. "Naruto please sit down, I promise I'll talk to you in a moment." Naruto ignored this request, instead steadily marching down the steps towards him. "Shove it Iruka, I know you don't want to quit, so why are you, is the old man making you, cause if he is, Hokage or not I'll kick his ass."

Iruka let out a long drawn out sigh, he was hoping to wait and talk to Naruto after class, when the rest of the students would already be gone. However it seemed that the blonde child was not giving him an option at this point. "Naruto come with me." Iruka motioned to the door before slowly making his way towards it, he was still getting use to the wheelchair. Once he and Naruto were alone in the hallway he turned towards the young boy, his brow furrowed. "Naruto the Hokage has nothing to do with my decision, and besides that if anyone were to hear you utter a threat like that the Anbu would scoop you up in a second."

Naruto blew off his sensei's warning he wasn't scared of the mighty Anbu, sure he wouldn't deny how strong they were, but that didn't mean he should be scared of them. "If the old man's not making you then why the hell are you quitting!?" Naruto found it particularly hard to keep his temper under control at this moment, and as such hard to keep his voice down as well. "I'm not quitting." Iruka said this quite adamantly, with a kind of fire in his eyes that Naruto didn't think he had ever seen in his sensei's eyes before.

"Than what are you doing?" The look in Iruka's eyes made Naruto feel a bit calmer, though he was still a bit upset. "After what happened last night, I realized something." Iruka started, taking a deep breath in an attempt to settle his nerves. "I'm weak Naruto." Naruto looked at his sensei strangely, of all the words that Naruto could think of to describe the man 'weak' was not one of them. "What are you talking about? You're one of the strongest ninja I've ever met!" Hearing that made Iruka feel happy, but it didn't change anything.

"We both almost died last night." Iruka stated definitively, of course Naruto knew this he had been there, and while he didn't remember everything the end result spoke for itself. "If I can't protect my students.. Than I can't be a teacher." Naruto just stared at his sensei unsure what to say at this point, in the end not saying anything, just continuing to listen. "Working at the academy is one of the greatest things in my life, but until I'm sure that I am strong enough to protect my students from anything that might happen."

Iruka didn't need to finish Naruto understood now, the man wasn't going to quit teaching, not even close, he was just taking a vacation until he was an even better teacher than he was before. "That shouldn't take you too long, you're already super strong, so all you need is a couple months right, by the time the academy starts again you'll be ready." Naruto spoke with so much faith that even Iruka started to believe it to be possible, though deep down he knew better than that, and that it would be a couple years before he truly got to the point he wanted to be at now.

"We should get back inside, I haven't even announced teams yet, and I think that the squad leaders will be here soon." Naruto followed Iruka back into the classroom, ignoring the stares that both of them were now getting, and slowly making his way back up the steps to where he was sitting before. "Alright class, as I was saying I am proud of each and everyone of you, and have absolute faith that you will all achieve your dreams." Iruka summarized his speech before pulling out a piece of paper that he had shoved in his pocket.

"Okay class listen carefully, I will now begin reading off team assignments." Naruto was only really listening for the names of people he cared about, ignoring everyone else's teams. "Team seven, Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto raised his head at this, looking towards his sensei. "Sakura Haruno." He immediately slammed his head back on the table. "Fuck." He muttered, as if Iruka didn't already know how awkward that was going to be. "And Sasuke Uchiha." Naruto raised his head back up, before slamming it even harder into the cheap wood desk. "Double fuck."

"Your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake." Naruto looked over to his two teammates, Sakura sent a quick look towards him before averting her gaze, and finally settling on staring longingly at Sasuke, whilst the moody boy, didn't even look like he was paying attention instead staring out the window with one hand on his cheek. Iruka didn't stop there of course, and the next team contained one of Naruto's friends. "Team eight will contain.. Kiba Inuzuka.. Shino Aburame.. and Hinata Hyuga." The shy girl looked upset at this little discovery, but didn't let it show too much.

"Just because we're not on the same team doesn't mean we won't still hang." Naruto assured her with a wide grin. It made the girl feel better, but it didn't change the fact that she was now going to be on a team with two people she had never spoken with. "Trust me I would trade either of my teammates for you." He added with a wink, causing the girl's face to turn bright red. "Your sensei will be Kurenai Yuhi." Hinata felt a weight lifted from her shoulders at this announcement, with her at least she would have someone to speak with.

"You already know her?" Mikomi asked seeing the look on the other girls face. Hinata nodded ever so slightly. "Yes, she's been... w-well.. I guess.. you could say.." Hinata struggled with how to explain exactly how she knew Kurenai, it didn't seem right to say, 'My father thinks I'm weak and pathetic so he got an outside ninja to train me.' Even if it was technically the truth. "She's.. a friend." Was what she eventually settled with, Mikomi stared for a moment longer than necessary before turning back towards the front of the class.

"Next is team nine.. Let's see Kisho Yubari." A boy with brown hair just a little past his shoulders, and powerfully bright green eyes perked up. His face was oddly angular for his age, and he wore a sleeveless brown shirt, and black pants that were loose around his legs. He looked around the room as though trying to remember exactly what was going on, before shrugging his shoulders and going back to doodling on his notebook. "Teruo Ike." Iruka called out the second name, before looking at the boy in question to make sure he was paying attention.

He had quite a different look compared to his teammate, his head was shaved, and his eyes were a dull grey, he wore black rimmed glasses that did nothing to intensify his gaze. Unlike most of the other students in class, the boy seemed to have almost no muscle whatsoever, his face bland and uninteresting. The only thing that made him really stand out as opposed to the others was that he was easily the tallest student in class. At only twelve years old the boy already stood almost six foot tall dwarfing even Iruka.

The boy looked at Iruka pushing his glasses back up on his face, before going back to reading his book. Iruka cleared his throat before reading the next name on the list. "Mikomi Utsunomiya." Looking over her two new teammates Mikomi could barely hide her disgust, to say she was disappointed would be an understatement. "Your sensei is Ryouta Takai." Naruto's head snapped up at that, he hadn't heard that name in years, not since miss Takai's funeral anyway. He looked around almost like he expected the man to show up out of nowhere.

Calming down after a second, he couldn't help but wonder what made the man decide to become a Jonin sensei. Especially after the last time Naruto had spoken to him. Naruto thought back to that time, it was right after Mitsuko's funeral, Naruto had been trying to cheer the man up, even though he himself was in no mood to be cheerful. "I'm done." The way he had said those words was so final that Naruto didn't know how to take it, and his mind immediately went to the worst case scenario. "You can't!" Naruto hadn't meant to shout, but the thought of the last piece of his first friend disappearing just like the boy's mother twisted Naruto's stomach into a knot.

Ryouta just looked at the boy with sad eyes. "I think I'm done being a shinobi." Naruto was stunned into silence, Ryouta was probably the most powerful man he had ever met, why would he want to quit being a ninja, to Naruto it just didn't make sense. "What?.. but you can't quit, Miru said that you were the best ninja in the world." Ryouta let out a dry laugh, it was an odd sound coming from the tall stoic man. "I couldn't protect my own family, how could I possibly protect the rest of the village." Those were the last words Naruto ever heard out of the man.

Since that day Naruto had never seen Ryouta again, he had returned to the house, only to discover that the man had moved, he didn't know where to. "I thought he quit." Naruto muttered catching Mikomi's attention. "You know my knew sensei?" She looked Naruto over with her intense gaze, as though she were trying to figure something out. "Yeah, he's an old friend." Naruto said avoiding her gaze on instinct alone. "I see." That was all Mikomi had to say about it apparently as she stopped talking afterwords.

Iruka finished up by calling out the last team on his list. "Team ten.. Ino Yamanaka.. Shikamaru Nara.. and Chouji Akimichi." Shikamaru was asleep, not that Naruto expected any thing other than that, and Chouji just seemed happy to be on the same team as his best friend. It was the sole female of the group that looked upset, Naruto wasn't sure why, sure they each had their own little quirks but Shikamaru and Chouji were in the top part of the class, as far as Naruto was concerned anyway. While they never scored very high, Naruto being friends with the two of them knew that it was from a lack of trying other than a lack of ability.

"Your sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi." Iruka looked up from his list, to gauge the reactions of his former students. He had expected that everyone wouldn't be happy with the placements, so it came to no surprise to see the disappointed looks on a majority of their faces. He looked at Naruto with a bit of sympathy, he originally had him placed on team nine, along with Mikomi, but the Hokage had insisted that he be placed with Kakashi, and as much as he might have wanted to Iruka could not ignore the Hokage's commands.

"Alright, this afternoon your sensei will be here to pick you up, before that though, I think you should all take the time to get to know you're new teammates, you'll be with them for quite a while." After he was done with his explanations Iruka left the room, where he was going Naruto had no clue. "Hey Hinata, how about some lunch, we can get to know each other better." Kiba said appearing in front of their desk, and winking at the dark haired girl. Naruto blinked, he couldn't believe how fast the boy had moved.

Hinata looked distinctly uncomfortable with the idea, and Naruto would admit he wasn't too happy about the idea either. "I-i..." Hinata stopped and took a deep breath, taking the time to gather her thoughts. "Y-yes.. I'll go." Naruto stared at the girl dumbfounded for a moment. "S-shino... are you.. c-coming?" Hinata said turning her attention to her other teammate, who looked like he was taken by surprise at the invitation, though only for a second, and possibly the only ones who could have noticed it was Naruto and Mikomi.

"I will." The boy spoke, with a barely perceptible nod, before rising from his seat. Kiba looked a little upset by this change, but didn't voice his displeasure. "Well fine, let's go." Kiba said with a shrug, the two following him out, leaving Naruto alone with Mikomi for the moment. "Are you going to greet your new teammates?" Naruto decided to bring up, to which Mikomi sent a glance at the two boy's who were currently sitting with each other, though neither looked overly happy about it. "I suppose I should." Her voice was thick with reluctance, even so she slowly got up from her seat, and walked over to her teammates.

"Hello, I am Mikomi, I will be your teammate from today on." She said with a light bow to the two of them. The brown haired boy, who if Naruto remembered correctly was named Kisho, got a rather large cocky looking grin on his face, as he stared the girl over for a minute. "You can be more than that." He said suggestively, causing the glasses wearing boy named Ike to let out a sound of annoyance. "Please don't believe all men are the same as this one, some of us are actually quite intelligent." After he spoke Kisho sent him a heated glare.

"What the hell does that mean, you sayin' I'm stupid or sometin" Kisho stood rather abruptly grabbing Ike by his shirt and pulling his fist back. "Of course not, I said no such thing, I only implied it." Swinging hard he struck his teammate in the jaw, only to recoil in shock in pain as he felt like he had just struck an iron wall. "What the hell are you made of?" He asked cradling his hand, Ike didn't respond, simply brushing some of the imaginary dust off that he was sure Kisho had left on his collar before turning back to Mikomi."

"As I stated, I do hope that you don't view us as one, we are quite different, even if we share the same gender." Mikomi nodded curtly before sitting down across from them with her back facing the front, and her eyes, facing Naruto. Naruto could only give her a thumbs up and mouth for her to do her best, though she didn't look like she appreciated it much. "So then Miko.. What are some of your hobbies?" Kisho spoke again, having apparently gotten over the pain in his hand. Mikomi looked at him with her intense stare as though she were debating if she should talk to him at all.

"I like to read." Was all she said in the end, and it was clear that this was not one of the responses he was wanting. Ike on the other hand looked interested now, turning to face the girl and putting his book down on the desk, making sure to fold an edge so as not to lose his place. "Really, what kind of books do you read?" Mikomi stared at him as well, before shrugging internally, it couldn't hurt to speak with them. "I like books about the birth of the world." Kisho looked at her strangely for a moment, before looking to Ike, who seemed to understand what she meant.

"You mean fantasies about the Otsutsuki clan, that is indeed an interesting story." Mikomi nodded silently before unbuckling her book from her side and pulling it out. Naruto watched from a distance and tried to remember if he had ever seen her read the book in the last year. Oddly he couldn't think of a single time, he had seen her read before but never from that particular book. Opening it she began to read aloud, but Naruto couldn't hear what she was saying, being too far away. After a few seconds of this, she closed the book and replaced it.

Both boy's just stared at her for a moment, before getting up from their seat and leaving, Mikomi rising and going back over to Naruto, before sitting down next to him. "What did you say to them?" Mikomi shrugged her shoulders. "I showed them my book." She patted the leather bound behemoth at her side. "And where'd they go?" Mikomi looked deep into Naruto's eyes and for the first time in a while, Naruto felt scared of the girl in front of him, a relative uneasiness that he hadn't felt around her since they had first met.

After a moment of her not answering he asked again. "Where'd your teammates go?"He said apprehensively, shifting uncomfortably as he did so. Mikomi looked at him, before clearing her throat. "They went for lunch, I informed them I had already eaten." Naruto nodded, deciding to accept that, even though he felt that something else was up, just from the blank looks on the boy's faces as they got up and left. "Shouldn't you greet your teammates?" She pointed at the desk, where Sasuke and Sakura were sitting side by side, Naruto let out a groan, placing his head in his hands.

"Don't remind me." He couldn't comprehend why anyone would've thought it a good idea to place him with those two in particular. "Whatever... here goes nothing." He swallowed heavily, standing up from his seat, and walking over to the two of them. "Uh.. hey guys.. what's up." Sasuke looked at him from the corner of his eye, making a 'hn' noise as he did so. While Sakura shifted her body away from him as though she were scared that he would attack her at any moment. "So this was a good talk, can't wait to work together."

Naruto turned to walk away, but stopped when he heard a low voice speak. "Hey loser." Naruto turned back towards them. "What's up Ace?" Sasuke glared at the boy just a bit before speaking again. "Just don't get in the way." Naruto returned the glare, with just as much heat. "I should be saying that to you, after all everyone here knows you can't even touch me." Sasuke began to emit a dangerous aura, that Naruto easily matched. Meanwhile Sakura just looked like she wished she was anywhere but between the two of them.

"Should we settle things now." Naruto suggested, suddenly wanting nothing more than to beat the dark haired boy into the ground. "I was thinking the same." Sasuke said standing up from his seat, it was probably the most words that Sasuke had spoken to Naruto in a single conversation. "Let's go." Naruto lowered himself into a stance, with Sasuke doing the same. "Wait a minute, you can't fight in class." Sakura spoke up, though neither boy payed her any attention, and like bullets shot towards each other.

End.

A/N: After a long debate I decided to keep the teams like the original for now anyway. Please read and review.


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